Naomi Osaka Launches Her Own Sports Agency

As the old adage says, if you want it done right, do it yourself.

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka can relate, as its reported that she recently left her sports agency IMG to launch her own sports agency — EVOLVE.

As reported by the Bleacher Report, Osaka and her trusted agent Stuart Duguid is at the helm of EVOLVE.

This news is exciting since it appears she is in a position to be the first Black woman athlete to found her own agency. Osaka’s contract with IMG was reportedly up at the end of 2021.

“I’ve spent my career doing things my way, even when people told me that it wasn’t what was expected or traditional,” Osaka said in regards to the move, “Evolve is the natural next step in my journey as both an athlete and businesswoman, as well as a way to continue being myself and doing things my way.”

Doing it her way means prioritizing the mental health of women and athletes of color, as the tennis champ has discussed in the past.

Osaka wrote in a NY Times op-ed:

“Lesson one: you can never please everyone,” she wrote. “The world is as divided now as I can remember in my short 23 years. Issues that are so obvious to me at face value, like wearing a mask in a pandemic or kneeling to show support for anti-racism, are ferociously contested. I mean, wow. So, when I said I needed to miss French Open press conferences to take care of myself mentally, I should have been prepared for what unfolded.”

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