New York (AFP)

From her resounding boycott of the Cincinnati tournament to her second triumph at the US Open, 17 days have passed, revealing in Naomi Osaka a rediscovered champion driven by her fight against racial injustice, and that's all tennis who discovered herself a leader.

Lying on her back in the middle of the court, after her victory against Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, hands crossed on her stomach, her gaze took refuge somewhere in the semi-visible New York sky behind the open roof of the Arthur court. Ashe.

What was she thinking?

One can imagine that during this short suspended time whose image has been around the world - at least as far as Japan where she has been an idol since her first coronation in the New York Grand Slam in 2018 -, the young woman of 22 years old has seen the past 17 days so intense emotionally.

Fragments of an existence long walled in shyness, suddenly become Black Lives Matter's megaphone in a microcosm that loves nothing more than staying in its bubble.

The click happened just on August 26, after his victory in the quarterfinals of the tournament from Cincinnati, relocated to Flushing Meadows.

Learning that the NBA basketball players in Milwaukee had boycotted their play-off match against Orlando, to protest after the police shootings against Jacob Blake, she decides to do the same for her half.

- "Hafu" -

“As a black woman, I feel like there are much bigger issues that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis,” she argues on Twitter.

He added: "I don't expect anything drastic to happen if I don't play, but if I can engage in a discussion in a predominantly white sport, I consider it a step forward. good direction".

The strong and unprecedented action, hailed by many players, obliges the organizers to show solidarity in turn by interrupting the game for a whole day.

The world knew Osaka as the talented, formidable, powerful player, the highest paid woman in the history of the sport.

He discovers Naomi the activist.

However, the latter did not come to light with Jacob Blake.

Born of a Japanese mother and a father of Haitian origin, Osaka has become in recent years the symbol of the struggle for the "hafu" (from the English "half" or half), these children from mixed marriages , who still suffer from strong racial prejudices as illustrated by the story of his parents, whose union was hardly accepted by the family on the maternal side.

- Seven masks -

The period of containment, imposed in the spring by the coronavirus pandemic, was by her own admission crucial in her journey, both as a woman living in tormented times and as a player who struggled to live up to expectations. , after his success at the US Open 2018 and the Australian Open 2019, world No.1 status as a bonus.

"I think that if I manage to assert myself a little more, that could change things", confided the one who was with LeBron James and Coco Gauff one of the first to cry out her anger after the death of George Floyd, following his arrest. May 25, even going to demonstrate in Minneapolis where the tragedy took place.

At the US Open, she never wavered from her commitment, whether it was speaking out to highlight systemic racist violence or displaying the names of a victim on her black mask, keeping her promise to do it seven times until the final.

“Everything I did outside, I wanted to do it on the court too. It gave me the will to win, because I want people to talk about it,” she explained on Saturday, adding "I forced myself to grow up. I hope that was also seen in my tennis".

© 2020 AFP