Japan’s Naomi Osaka won the Australian Open on Saturday, becoming the world’s top-ranked athlete in women’s tennis.
At 21, Osaka is the youngest No. 1 player since 2010, when Caroline Wozniacki achieved that at age 20. She is also the first-ever tennis player representing Japan to be a world No. 1.
Osaka won the Australian Open against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. “Definitely she is a great one,” two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova said of Osaka after the match, according to the Associated Press.
Osaka ascended to the top spot after winning two major championships. She won the US Open last September against runner-up Serena Williams, who was controversially docked a game for arguing with the chair umpire.
Osaka was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father. She moved to New York when she was three and currently lives in Florida, holding dual US-Japanese citizenship.