The Naomi Osaka story has all the makings of a tale for the ages.After all who doesn’t love an underdog.She has talent,she has grit,she has determination and now she is showing yet another side of her personality.

A picture of Naomi Osaka with an Australian Open ball girl is nowadays going viral on social media after the Japanese-born tennis sensation herself tweeted the now uncountable times shared pic.

“It was very special,” says the ball kid on Naomi’s gesture

Osaka won her second title at Melbourne Park when she defeated Jennifer Brady last Saturday night.

Reflecting on the triumph with a slideshow of photos from the match, Osaka couldn’t help but spot a delightful detail in one shot.

She shared the photo on Twitter Monday that captured the ball girl with a big smile on her face while watching Osaka from behind at Rod Laver Arena after the latter won the match point.

The ball girl was identified by the Herald Sun as a 16-year-old local who was given one more year at the Australian Open when COVID-19 restrictions stopped the tournament from training up new volunteers.

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Marle said she first received word of the viral tweet when she checked her phone at school on Thursday.

“It was very special – no player ever does that,” she told the newspaper.

“I was with my friends at lunch and saw the link. Mum just sent me the link to the Twitter post she made and I clicked on it and was pretty shocked”Marle concluded.

Osaka and Rafa nominated for Laureus Award 2021-

Capping off a hugely successful year for him, Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards 2021. This is the sixth nomination for Nadal who won the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award back in 2011 when he reached 3 out of 4 Grand Slam finals (won the French Open, runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open) that year.

Naomi Osaka also earned her first nomination in the ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ category at the Laureus World Sports Awards 2021. The 23-year-old has previously won the ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ title in 2019.

If she wins, Osaka will follow in the footsteps of 4-time winner Serena Williams. Also joining Osaka and Nadal will be US Open 2020 and French Open 2020 champions Dominic Thiem and Iga Swiatek who have been nominated in the ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ category.

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