Naomi Osaka documentary series drops on Netflix before Olympics

A three-part documentary series on tennis star Naomi Osaka is set to drop on Netflix later this month, just ahead of her return to the sport at the Tokyo Olympics.

The three-part series, titled “Naomi Osaka,” follows Osaka in the years after her win at the 2018 U.S. Open and her rise to international stardom — something even she herself doesn’t quite understand.

The four-time Grand Slam winner quickly became the top-ranked player in Tennis and the highest-paid female athlete in the world, all before turning 23.

“I think the amount of attention that I get is kind of ridiculous,” she said in the trailer for the series, which premiered on Tuesday. “No one prepares you for that.”

The documentary will also hit on Osaka’s activism — including her custom masks at the U.S. Open — the loss of her mentor Kobe Bryant, her connection with her home country of Japan and more. 

The inside look at her life and also comes just weeks after she stepped away from the sport and revealed her struggles with mental health.

Naomi Osaka withdrew from French Open after media blackout

Osaka made waves across the sports world in May when she , just days after she said she wouldn’t speak with media members throughout the tournament.

Her media blackout sparked significant blowback initially — including from the French Open itself, .

, and revealed that she has “suffered long bouts of depression” and struggled with it since 2018.

“Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that sees me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety,” she said in a statement, in part.

“I’m gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans.”

Osaka is preparing to make her return to the sport later this month at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. She will make her debut at the Games and play for Japan, where she was born before moving to the United States.

The documentary will come out just one week before the opening ceremony.

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