Naomi Osaka
took part in Nike's new campaign alongside Carlos Alcaraz and other prominent
athletes.
The 4-time
Grand Slam champion recently gave birth to her first daughter, Shai, with her
boyfriend Cordae. Despite her absence from the WTA tour in 2023, Naomi Osaka
remains one of the most significant figures in tennis and participated in
Nike's new promotion.
Over the
past years, the Japanese player has been the top earner among tennis players
due to her endorsement deals, and one of her major sponsors is the sportswear brand
Nike, which also counts world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz among its ambassadors.
In the
promotional video, Osaka is visibly pregnant, and it features other renowned
athletes from various disciplines, such as soccer players Alejandro Garnacho
and Tyler Adams, snowboarder Chloe Kim, and basketball player Yang Liwe.
As
acknowledged by Naomi Osaka's agent, Stuart Duguid, the former world No. 1
tennis player was initially delighted about her pregnancy. However, concerns
about her sponsorship commitments arose afterward.
“Obviously
when Naomi first told me it was like just obviously delighted for her and happy
for her, but then there’s the moment where you realize you have to make all
these calls [to the sponsors],” Duguid said.
“I would
say, say almost every single conversation went really, really well. I’ll be
very honest, the most important conversation for me and for us was probably our
Nike conversation, which wasn’t really a conversation thanks to what you had
done,” he added.
“So that
situation was already covered in the past. There was a cause in the contract
which defined exactly what would happen if Naomi was pregnant and that all came
on the back of your experience with that,” Duguid concluded.
Naomi Osaka
has announced her intention to return to the WTA tour in 2024. She is
determined to compete at the highest level once again and continue adding to
her impressive collection of titles, which currently stands at seven, including
four Grand Slam championships and two WTA 1000 titles.