Australian Open: Meet Naomi Osaka and Maria Sharapova’s dream-chasing Japanese fitness guru, Yutaka Nakamura
- Tokyo-born Nakamura’s career will come full circle if he and three-time grand slam winner Osaka compete at Olympic Games
- Osaka will be ‘one of my greatest accomplishments’, says the man who has worked with icons Sharapova and Kei Nishikori
There is no questioning his stellar 20-plus year tennis coaching career – but the 48-year-old said he has only just scratched the surface in terms of legacy.
“Tennis and sports for Asians and Japanese, I’ve dealt with a lot of tennis players, but dealing with Naomi Osaka will be – when I look back in the future – one of my greatest accomplishments,” Nakamura said from his strictly quarantined hotel in Melbourne at the Australian Open. He was appointed performance coach by Team Osaka last July.
“I dealt with Nishikori when he was younger and Sharapova was another accomplishment. But Osaka is a very special player. And she’s from Japan. We’re kind of chasing the dream together and I’m very proud of that.”
Born and raised in Machida, Tokyo, Nakamura’s path to elite-level coaching is one where dreams are made of. He was subjected to – like most in Japan – playing either baseball or football as a child, choosing the former as a means to satisfy his Yomiuri Giants-obsessed father. It was not until he joined his sister’s tennis practice years later that he saw his destiny.
