Naomi Osaka has announced her departure from IMG to launch her own sports agency; the 24-year-old is a four-time Grand Slam winner and the first Japanese woman to win a major; Osaka: “Evolve is the inevitable next step in my path as both an athlete and an entrepreneur.”
Naomi Osaka, a four-time major champion, thinks starting her own sports agency is the “logical next step” in her career.
On Wednesday, Osaka, 24, said that she would leave IMG to start to Evolve with her long-time agent Stuart Duguid.
Osaka has positioned herself as a major champion for athlete mental health and welfare after withdrawing from the French Open a year ago and disclosing that she had been depressed for years.
In an interview with Sportico, Osaka remarked. “I’ve spent my career doing things my way, even when others told me it wasn’t expected or conventional.”
“Evolve is the logical next step in my development as an athlete and entrepreneur and a means to be true to myself and do things my way.”
Discussion of the new sports agency
Reuters, Duguid, and Osaka first discussed the business during. The Tokyo Olympics last year, and the company would operate as a “small boutique and customized agency.”
“We were talking about the business methods of some of her role idols. Such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James (James). We wondered why no exceptional female athlete had done it before, “he stated.
“Rather than fast checks with a commission attached, it’s athlete-driven and focused on big picture brand growth.”
“It would be only athletes who transcend their sports or those with the capacity to do so,” Duguid said, adding that he couldn’t reveal anything about the inaugural customers’ names.
“Hey child, you’ve come a long way, and even if there have been some bumps in the road. I hope you realize you’re doing wonderful,” Osaka tweeted on Wednesday, with a collection of videos from her younger playing days in which she outlined her professional objectives.
She predicted what she might be doing if she wasn’t a tennis player in one of the segments.
“I simply enjoy sports,” she said, “so maybe (I’d be) an agent in the end.”
Osaka, the world No. 38, pulled out of the Italian Open this week due to an Achilles injury she suffered in the second round of the Madrid Open last week.
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