In the wake of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, Naomi Osaka pledges to donate her prize money from her upcoming tournament to the country’s relief.
Osaka, who is of Japanese and Haitian descent, expressed her feelings of frustration via Twitter on Saturday. “Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break,” the four-time Grand-Slam champion wrote. On Saturday, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation leaving at least 5,700 people injured and thousands displaced amidst the rubble. As of late, the death toll has soared to nearly 1,300 people and is expected to climb upwards. Haiti, which is still recovering from its 2010 earthquake, has recently faced a wave of calamity as it grapples with a presidential assassination and the coronavirus pandemic.
As she prepared to begin the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, she continued, “I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors’ blood is strong we’ll keep rising.” The women’s singles champion will reportedly receive $255,220 while the runner-up will receive $188,945.
In her career, Osaka has continuously leveraged her platform to amplify her personal activism. At the 2020 U.S. Open, she sported customized Black face masks with the names of those who lost their lives to police brutality — defying the beliefs that politics can’t exist in sport arenas.
Most recently, she refused to partake in post-match conferences for the sake of her mental health at the French Open and later withdrew from the tournament altogether. In her cover essay with Time, the tennis phenom emphasized that she prioritizes her mental health in spite of the backlash that suggested that she was avoiding her contractual obligations. She revealed, “The intention was never to inspire revolt, but rather to look critically at our workplace and ask if we can do better.”
Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break. I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors blood is strong we’ll keep rising 🇭🇹❤️🙏🏾
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 14, 2021
