Naomi Osaka, Speaking for Herself
In an interview with Bounces, the four-time major champion sets the record straight about her reasons for leaving her former agency, Evolve.
MELBOURNE, Australia — I’ve been interviewing Naomi Osaka for just over a decade now; it was at the Australian Open ten years ago when I first profiled her for The New York Times.
Osaka, now 28, has grown up a lot since then, and this recent off-season showed it in a new way: the four-time major champion retook control of her career by breaking away from Evolve, the agency of which she’d been a highly-touted co-founder in 2022 alongside her longtime agent Stuart Duguid.
I broke the news of Osaka leaving Evolve on Bounces last month, including the detail that she would be returning to her previous management company, IMG. For more background on her history with Evolve, the prior post I did has lots of details:
Osaka confirmed the news a day later on her Instagram, and then announced her IMG return a few weeks later.
But it wasn’t until Osaka sat down for another interview with me on the eve of this year’s tournament—this time for Bounces—that she shed any light on her reasons for leaving Evolve, and how she felt what was “promised” was ultimately not delivered at an agency that was never really hers—despite its ostensible girlboss raison d'être.
“There are just some things that I disagreed with. And having your name so publicly attached to something, and then like every decision they make, I don’t have control in that—it was just really stressful for me.” —Naomi Osaka
Osaka and I also discussed some lighter topics, including her newly rekindled friendship with Taylor Townsend, her move back to the East Coast after years in L.A., and her thoughts on the possibility of a Heated Rivalry in men’s tennis.
16th-seeded Osaka, a two-time champion at the Australian Open, will play her first round match on Tuesday against 65th-ranked Antonia Ruzic.
To read our whole interview as well as a look ahead at matches to watch on Day 2 of the Australian Open in this 2,800-word post, please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben
