Seven matches, seven names on seven masks.
Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, who on Saturday defeated Victoria Azarenka to win the US Open, wore a different face mask for each of her matches in this year’s tournament.
Each carried the name of a Black American who was the victim of violence, in an attempt to highlight racial injustice in the US to a wider audience.
“The point is to make people start talking,” Osaka, 22, said at the award ceremony.
“For me, just spreading awareness,” added the champion, whose father is Haitian and mother is Japanese.
“I feel like the more people know the story, then the more interesting or interested they’ll become in it.”