Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka won her second U.S. Open championship on Sept. 12 after defeating Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Osaka is the first Asian player, male or female, to win three Grand Slam titles (China’s Li Na won two). Osaka is also the first woman to come back from a set down in the U.S. Open final since 1994, when Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario staged a comeback to beat Steffi Graf.
Osaka, 22, was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father—the family moved to the United States when she was 3. Now based in California, Osaka arrived for the U.S. Open intent on claiming the championship, and to be a voice for change by calling attention to racial injustice.