Naomi Osaka says she sent someone to grab her daughter’s birth certificate from her LA home

By Canadian Press on January 13, 2025.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — While Naomi Osaka is busy competing — and winning — at the Australian Open, she needed to send someone to retrieve her 1 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth certificate from their California home in case it got caught up in the wildfires ravaging the greater Los Angeles area.

After a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Caroline Garcia of France in the first round at Melbourne Park on Monday night, Osaka said during an on-court interview at Rod Laver Arena that she had learned that there was a fire burning three blocks from her house.

Osaka said she figured it would be a good idea to keep the birth certificate safe. Her daughter, Shai, was born in July 2023 and has traveled with Osaka on the tennis tour.

Osaka announced this month on social media that she and Shai’s father, rapper Cordae, had ended their relationship.

She is a former No. 1-ranked tennis player who has won four Grand Slam titles — two at the Australian Open and two at the U.S. Open.

Osaka was born in Japan and her family moved to the United States when she was 3. She’s been based in Los Angeles for several years.

“Sending all my love to LA. We hear about fires, but I didn’t know how devastating it could be,” Osaka said Monday. “I hope everyone’s doing well.”

She then wrote “LA” and drew a heart in blue ink on the lens of a courtside TV camera. Other Australian Open athletes, including Coco Gauff and Donna Vekic, have done similar after their matches.

This was the second year in a row that Osaka and 2022 U.S. Open semifinalist Garcia have played each other in the first round at Melbourne Park. Last year, though, Osaka had only recently returned from maternity leave and she lost that match to Garcia.

“It’s a really big coincidence,” Osaka said. “It felt a little familiar.”

She got off to a good start this season by reaching the final of a hard-court tuneup tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, although she stopped playing after taking the opening set of that title match because of an injury.

Next at the Australian Open for Osaka will be a matchup against 20th-seeded Karolina Muchova, who was the runner-up at the 2023 French Open but later missed about 10 months of action because of wrist surgery. Muchova advanced by eliminating Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 6-1.

At last year’s U.S. Open, Muchova defeated Osaka in the second round.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press