By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday August 15, 2021
Naomi Osaka, of Haitian and Japanese heritage, has stepped up in light of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday morning that has devastated Haiti. More than 700 have already been reported dead in a country that is already reeling from a presidential assassination. The recovery is being conducted as a tropical storm approaches.
The Japanese star, whose father is from Haiti, has pledged to donate all her prize money from next week’s Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati to the cause.
"Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break," she wrote on Twitter. "I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors blood is strong we’ll keep rising."
According to the New York Times the quake “inundated damaged hospitals, flattened buildings and trapped people under rubble in at least two cities in the western part of the country’s southern peninsula, but it didn’t appear to cause major damage in the capital, Port-au-Prince.”
Osaka, who filmed portions of her recent Netflix documentary “Naomi Osaka” in Haiti, will play her first competitive tennis since falling to Marketa Vondrousova at the Tokyo Olympics. The World No.2 is 16-4 on the season with a Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, but she has only played once since pulling out of Roland-Garros for mental health reasons. She will face either Coco Gauff or a qualifier in her second-round match (after a bye).