Naomi Osaka Covers Vogue Japan August 2021, Saying She Will Play in Olympics

Tennis star Naomi Osaka covers the August 2021 issue of Vogue Japan, and Naomi did appear on social media to share her cover shot and a preview of the fashion editorial.

"Hi guys. Popping out to post this @voguejapan cover, hope you’re all doing well and staying safe," she wrote.

Patti Wilson styles the shoot with Osaka wearing a Louis Vuitton bralette paired with orange pants on the cover. Vuitton is well represented in the fashion pages, with Naomi being an official ambassador for the luxury brand. Nike also gets good exposure. Zoey Grossman [IG] is behind the lens, as Naomi promises that she will play in the Tokyo Olympics starting July 24, but not on the US team. Naomi will play for Japan.

Wimbledom opens this morning — June 28 — and Naomi Osaka is not playing, after leaving the French Open in June over the media demands of organizers.

A source of unexpected support for Osaka came from NFL quarter back star Tom Brady who said that he has compassion for Naomi, who says she is fighting intense bouts of depression. It’s not clear what are the triggers and as Brady says — at Osaka’s age — dealing with all the fame and pressure is psychologically daunting. Naomi became very active in racial justice protests after the murder of George Floyd and takes her leadership position in sports very seriously.

AOC believes that Naomi is also exhausted with reporters trying to pit her against Serena Williams. For her part, Naomi remains very upset that fans booed her when she beat Serena at the US Open in 2019. It seems that this was a life-changing event for her.

“You feel for the 22-year-olds that are in the position that – look, there’s a lot of things happening in their life,” Brady said. “We all go through things. I went through a lot of things in my late teens, early 20s. I didn’t know how to deal with a lot of things that were coming because there was no training guide for how to deal with what was happening in my life.

“Now as someone that’s twice her age, you have compassion and empathy for that. You hope that she can deal with that because you wouldn’t want that to take away from her true joy of playing tennis. You don’t want something like that taking away from what her joy should be.”