Noted in 2020 both for her activism away from the tennis courts, and for winning the US Open and his third Grand Slam title at 23 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31656-haiti-racism-usa-haitian-japanese-naomi-osaka-withdraws-from-the-cincinnati-tournament-to-protest.html , the Japanese tennis star of Haitian origin Naomi Osaka, #3 in the world, who was also unmarked at the Cincinnati tournament where she denounced racial injustice and police brutality https://www.haitilibre.com/article-https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31656-haiti-racism-usa-haitian-japanese-naomi-osaka-withdraws-from-the-cincinnati-tournament-to-protest.html has been selected by the Associated Press (AP) as the 2020 female athlete of the year after a vote by sports editors from the US news agency and from the editors of the "AP beat". Osaka garnered 18 of 35 first-place votes and a total of 71 points.

Billie Jean King, 12-time Grand Slam singles winner and decades-long pioneer lawyer, praised Osaka for her stances stressing "[...] She successfully completed the difficult task of taking excellence in sports performance and using that platform to succeed outside of sports on a much bigger stage [...] She ignited a conversation on social justice, the results of which were bigger than tennis [...] so raised the bar for all those who want to leverage the gifts and talents we have to make a difference in our world."

IH/ iciHaiti