"Naomi Osaka is a tennis player like Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka" "When will you stop" - Fans annoyed by WTA's persistent "mom" label for Japanese

Naomi Osaka registered a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over Suzan Lamens in the second round at the ongoing Libema Open. However, tennis fans made their annoyance clear after the WTA referred to the Japanese once again as a mother following her resounding victory.

Osaka came into the WTA 250 grasscourt event on a high after her stellar second-round display against Iga Swiatek in the 2024 French Open. Despite the Japanese's 6-7(1), 6-1, 5-7 loss to the eventual Roland Garros champion, she put on an impressive performance and was the only player to win a set against the Pole throughout the whole tournament, which she went on to win.

The former World No. 1 was at her devastating best against Lamens as she capitalized on the Dutchwoman's errors and at the same time, leveraged the power of her own crushing groundstrokes. After the conclusion of the match, the official WTA handle on X (formerly Twitter), celebrated Osaka's victory with a post captioned:

"Mom on a mission, Naomi Osaka is enjoying the grass, she defeats Lamens in consecutive sets 6-2, 6-2 #LibemaOpen"

The WTA's decision to use the "mom" label yet again for Osaka drew criticism from several tennis fans. One set of fans opined that at this point, almost everyone who follows the sport knows that the Japanese is a mother. According to these fans, Osaka should first and foremost be referred to as a tennis player when her results are discussed, and not as a mother.

"Why are you people emphasising that she is a mother? She is a tennis player like Swiatek and Sabalenka. Stop it, please," one fan wrote.

"When will you stop saying « mom » something to every Naomi Osaka performance/post ? I mean can’t you describe her in any other way?" another fan questioned.

"WE GET IT, SHE'S A MOM! That's not all she is now after becoming a mother. Stop using that as the primary description of all the moms in the field," an irate fan commented.

"Call her mom one more time! She’s almost out of protected ranking because your policies on maternity returns suck," another fan chimed in.

Another set of fans ridiculed the WTA citing the example of the ATP, which typically does not label men's tennis players with kids as fathers.

"Can’t we agree that if there is a story on a male player we -if applicable- describe them as father or dad? Yes, Naomi is a mother but also she is a professional tennis player who willingly / voluntarily choose to pick up her job again," wrote one fan.

"Can the ATP account start talking about all fathers on tour like this? I wanna see something," another fan sarcastically commented.

"Let’s start saying dad on a mission every time Taylor Fritz wins something," yet another fan weighed in citing Fritz's example. The American has a son, Jordan, who was born in 2019.

Naomi Osaka to square off against Bianca Andreescu next in the Libema Open quarterfinals

Naomi Osaka in action at the 2024 French Open

Naomi Osaka's next outing is slated to be against former World No. 4 and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the Libema Open quarterfinals. Andreescu reached the quarters after registering wins against Eva Vedder and Yuan Yue.

The Japanese and the Canadian have faced each other once previously on the WTA Tour. It came in the quarterfinals of the 2019 China Open in Beijing, with Osaka winning 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. After the match, Osaka had jokingly said that she was reluctant to face Andreescu again. Osaka would go on to win the WTA 1000 event that year after defeating Ashleigh Barty in the final.

The winner of the match between Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu will go on to face either Jessica Pegula, Aleksandra Krunic, Dalma Galfi or Veronika Kudermetova, depending on results elsewhere.