Sporting Life: Naomi Osaka - the champion and the challenge

Japan's Naomi Osaka poses for photographs with the championship trophy at the Brighton Beach in Melbourne on Jan 27, 2019. PHOTO: AFP
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MELBOURNE - Number 1 is a position, a prize and a predicament. You earn it, then you have to wear it. In the mirror you see the same person but the world sees someone else. You are a human, an athlete and now also an ideal. You are the tennis standard and a poster on a wall. Little girls are saying they want to be you. Mothers approve.

Are you ready? Smile, please.

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