Leonard François is the father of Naomi Osaka, the professional tennis player, who beat Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open final. He dedicated many years of his life to working as a tennis coach for his daughters, Husband and Naomi.
Just a simple reminder that the article is created and owned solely by marriedbiography.org. The article cannot be republished in other pages or documents. Copyright is DMCA protected. Any copies found will be flagged.
Original source: https://marriedbiography.org/who-is-naomi-osakas-father-leonard-francois-biography/
Early life and family
Leonard Max François was born in the United States, although he is of Haitian descent. Her parents only spoke Creole, because they didn’t even know English. Leonard spent his youth in New York, eventually as a student at New York University. It was then that he met the love of his life and the future mother of his daughters, Tamaki Osaka. During one of his study vacations, Leonard traveled to one of the Japanese islands, including Hokkaido, where he met Tamaki, and soon realized that he wanted to pursue a relationship with her.
Posted by Léonard François on Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tamaki’s Japanese family accused her of dating a black man and dishonoring the whole family, however, Leonard wasn’t afraid to prove he was a good match for his Japanese girlfriend, so after he graduated from college, he moved to Osaka, Japan to live there with Tamaki and be near his family to show them that he was good enough.
Career
Leonard decided to become a tennis coach in 1999 when he saw the Williams sisters perform at the Roland-Garros tournament. His two daughters were toddlers at the time, but Leonard’s decision was made. He was amazed by their doubles victory and vowed to do everything to make his daughters the team of Williams kind. Leonard was also encouraged by the fact that the Williams sisters’ coach, their father Richard Williams, hadn’t played tennis at all in his entire life, although Leonard had played tennis a lot.
Leonard’s younger daughter, Naomi Osaka, later admitted that the style of their court upbringing was very similar to what Serena and Venus Williams received from their father. Just as Serena once mentioned that no one beat her like Venus did, Naomi also shared that her older sister Mari was her toughest opponent. Leonard then found another coach for his two daughters to improve their level of play. Leonardo never forgot where he came from, so in 2000 he and his wife built an elementary school in Haiti, which Naomi later visited in 2019. He does a lot of charity work, helping various funds to develop sports lessons for low-income children. families.
Eldest daughter, Mari Osaka
Leonard’s eldest daughter, Mari Osaka, was born on April 3, 1996 in Osaka, Japan. From an early age, she was trained in tennis by her father.
She also likes to draw and often shares her photos and sketches on her Instagram account. She also posts videos of her daily training routine, showing off various cool devices and gadgets that help her practice and develop speed, reaction and other skills important for a professional tennis player. Mari’s coach is now Maxime Kouyaté; he took her to the final of the McLeod for Health Florence Open in 2018. Mari started competing in professional tennis tournaments in 2014, entering Bank of the West Classic, when she partnered with Marina Shamayko in doubles, however, they lost to Ajla Tomljanović and Varvara Leptchenko. Mari could then be seen competing at the 2019 Miami Open, when she performed in singles receiving a wildcard in the main draw.
Husband likes to travel; his favorite destinations are Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France. She loves dogs.
She suffers a lot from the fact that many people compare her to her younger sister who is more successful than Mari; however, she learns to cope with it, not to be depressed, and to develop her own career and accomplishments.
Youngest daughter, Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka was born on October 16, 1997 in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The questions she is more than tired of answering are “Why is her last name the same as the town where she was born?” : “We’re recycling a joke from 2014!” Everyone born in Osaka, their last name is Osaka,” she joked in her Washington Post interview in 2018. When Naomi was three, her family moved to Long Island, then to Florida, so that she was about nine years old. . Naomi started playing tennis with her older sister, Mari. She worked hard and dreamed of playing against the Williams sisters.
At the age of 15, Naomi started working at the ISP Academy, being coached by Patrick Tauma, then in 2014 with the Harold Solomon Tennis Academy, then joined the ProWorld Tennis Academy, improving her skills and gaining more experience. opportunities to succeed.
Naomi won her first WTA Tour match when she was just 16 and became a sports sensation after beating Serena Williams at the US Open in 2018, while being ranked seventh in the world at that time. The New Yorker called her “the next best player in the world”. In 2019, Naomi won the Australian Open beating Petra Kvitová, the Czech professional tennis player, in three sets. The same tournament in 2020 was not as successful as Naomi expected, as she lost to Coco Gauff, the American professional tennis player, in the third round.
Controversy over Naomi’s US Open win
“We will never know if young Osaka really won the 2018 US Open or if she received it from a man who was going to make Serena Williams feel his power,” Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins wrote. Indeed, the situation that unfolded during the match between Naomi Osaka and her biggest idol and inspiration, Serena Williams, was exceptional. Portuguese referee Carlos Ramos, who served as the chair umpire in the game, gave Serena three code violations. She accused him of stealing the point from her, insisting she was not getting practice during the match. She also accused him of sexism and racism, but ultimately had to pay the penalties for his violations.
Naomi won the match and the audience wondered if it was her talent that helped her, or Serena’s situation, which caused the latter to lose her temper and the match. At the end of the match, Serena congratulated Naomi and seemed friendly smiling at Osaka. However, his true feeling about the game was actually the opposite, just not directed at Naomi.
Personal life, wife Tamaki Osaka
Leonard has never been separated from his wife, Tamaki Osaka, who is a schoolteacher, since their wedding day in 1989. According to the laws of Japan, his daughters took their mother’s surname; the law is also known as Koseki, meaning the Japanese family registration law. It says that the foreign spouse must join their Japanese spouse’s koseki and all their children must be registered under the Japanese spouse’s surname.
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
Leonard is an avid fan of many types of sports, so he spends a lot of time playing tennis and beach volleyball, swimming, etc. He also enjoys watching basketball games. Leonard spends a lot of time with his parents, who still live in New York.
Appearance, style of dress
Leonard has black hair and dark brown eyes. His height, weight and vital statistics are not available at this time, but judging by his photos with his daughter Naomi, who is 1.78m (5ft 10in), he is a bit taller. smaller than her.
Net Worth and Salary
As of 2020, Leonard’s net worth is still not officially reported. However, his daughter Naomi Osaka has an estimated net worth of over $29 million.
