Social Awareness Spotlighted
Annually, Ralph Lauren outfits those on the tournament staff, the chair umpires, as well as the lines and ball people and people appearing on court. During the fortnight, the company, in essence, has a battalion of billboards wandering around the Tennis Center grounds. (David Lauren, the company’s chief innovation officer and son of the founder, decided this year to feature the last names of 150 of New York’s pandemic first responders. The company, who has been the tournament’s clothier since 2005, put the last names on the back of the polo shirts worn by the ball people and those working on courts and grounds .)
Naomi Osaka may have earned as much praise for her impressive victory over Victoria Azarenka as she did for her daily face-mask messaging. Her desire to have people “see more names” created awareness about Black victims of police violence such as Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Elijah McClain, Tamir Rice and Breonna Taylor.
Following Floyd’s death in May, she had traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take part in the peaceful protests that took place. In July, she co-wrote an article that appeared in Esquire Magazine concerning racism and personally “being all things together at the same time.” After Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot many times by a policeman in Kenosha, Wisconsin, she withdrew from her Western & Southern Open semifinal. Tournament officials decided to suspend play at the National Tennis Center for the entire day in support of her social justice expression.
Having turned 22 last October 16th, Osaka has made a commitment to tennis and an even bigger one to fully use her public platform in an effort to increase awareness and to help stem systemic racism.
It was fitting that during the final days of the event, that the works of eighteen artists were featured in “Black Lives to the Front”. It was a Black Lives Matter art exhibit that was on display in the lower rows of art of Ashe Stadium.
Given the USTA’s seemingly growing commitment to diversity aimed at breaking down racial barriers, and essentially making every effort to change the public’s perception of the organization, it was next to impossible to understand why Osaka was restrained at the trophy presentation. When asked if she had thought about wearing one of her “telling” masks during the ceremony, she said she had…but was told not to do so…” I just did what they told me…” One wonders, by whom? Was this an official dictate or a television move or…? After the awakening that Naomi Osaka brought about during the two tournaments held at the National Tennis Center, she should have been shown more regard…
