This story was originally published on September 1.
On Monday night, tennis star Naomi Osaka took to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first round of the 2020 US Open. Before the first serve of the match, against Misaki Doi, the 2018 US Open winner sent a message with her mask: Justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman who was killed by Louisville police on March 13.
As Osaka revealed in an interview, this is only one of the masks that she plans on wearing to raise awareness. “I have seven,” Osaka told reporters. “It’s quite sad that seven masks isn’t enough for the amount of names [of Black people killed by members of law enforcement], so hopefully, I’ll get to the finals and you can see all of them.”
.@naomiosaka has 7 masks ready with different names for a potential run at the #USOpen. pic.twitter.com/jmARabKhae
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2020
This is not the first time that Osaka has used fashion to make a statement about racial injustice — in fact, it isn’t even the first time in the last week. Last Wednesday, as several sports teams went on strike in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Osaka announced that she would be sitting out of the Western & Southern Open’s semifinals which were set to take place a day later on Thursday. According to The New York Times, she said that there were “more important matters at hand.” When tennis officials agreed to delay matches by a day, she played. On Friday, she walked onto the court wearing a black T-shirt with “Black Lives Matter” written on it.
See her mask, below, and check back to see who else Osaka will honor at the 2020 US Open.
Round 1: Breonna Taylor
For her first match of the 2020 US Open, Naomi Osaka wore a black mask with Breonna Taylor’s name written on it.
Naomi Osaka, of Japan, wears a mask in honor of Breonna Taylor as she celebrates after defeating Misaki Doi, of Japan, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, in New York
US Open Tennis, New York, United States – 31 Aug 2020
Round 2: Elijah McClain
Osaka wore a face mask with Elijah McClain‘s name written on it during her second round at the US Open. “I still don’t think his name is very put out there compared to George Floyd or Breonna Taylor,” Osaka told reporters. The 23-year-old Black man died after being confronted by Aurora, Colorado police officers while walking home from a convenience store in August of 2019. She also asked those watching on TV to Google his name and share his story.
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