Naomi Osaka is, without question, a tennis powerhouse, with several grand slams under
her belt. Of course, in order to play at the caliber Osaka does, she has to take great
care of her body. Here's what Osaka eats every day to stay powered up.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or so goes the old adage — this certainly
seems to be the case for Naomi Osaka, who makes sure to start her day in a healthy way.
She told PureWow,
"Typically, when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is drink a smoothie that
my trainer Yutaka [Nakamura] makes me. It has kale, spinach, coconut Bodyarmor Lyte.
I feel like it has kiwi in it."
But that's not the extent of Osaka's breakfast. She went on to say that she also enjoys rye
bread with smoked salmon and avocado.
That's something she confirmed in an inte rview with Teen Vogue, though she was having
it on bagels instead of rye bread at the time.
She told the magazine,
"I’ve been eating the same breakfast for two weeks now, which is a salmon bagel. I
ate that before my match."
And, in another chat with Vogue, Osaka made a version with focaccia.
"But this morning I'm using focaccia."
As for any morning caffeine, you won't find Osaka drinking coffee. According to Us Weekly,
she's just not into it.
Given that Naomi Osaka is an elite athlete, her eating habits depend on what kind of activities
she's doing at any given moment. This is especially the case when she's hardcore into training,
as her diet gets pretty strict at that time.
She told Teen Vogue,
"It's going to sound kind of extreme, but during the off-season, I was eating boiled
foods. I would boil chicken and broccoli, and no carbs."
While some folks may allow themselves another healthy item on their plate, such as rice,
Osaka's training regimen is far too strict for that. That was even the case when Osaka
was in Japan and tempted by all of the yummy rice-based meals that are available.
She said that while she was looking forward to the rice dishes,
"I'm not really allowed to eat carbs leading up to a tournament, so I'm a little sad about
that. But, hopefully, I'll have at least one good meal."
We hope so, too, as the food in Japan is incredible.
What even is life if it doesn't involve snacks? While Naomi Osaka's diet is always very healthy,
she still makes room for between-meal snacking.
She told PureWow,
"If I snack during the day, maybe I eat an onigiri with umeboshi in it or mixed nuts.
I would say I don't snack that often, but — for example — I'll eat the onigiri right
after I practice and then have the nuts after a gym session."
Osaka also is a fan of eating the rainbow. She told Us Weekly that she often enjoys fresh
berries with melon and a low-calorie Bodyarmor sports drink, adding,
"If I'm in a rush, my go-to snack is freshly cut watermelon."
The latter she drinks because, she said,
"It's so important to rehydrate!"
When Naomi Osaka is preparing for a workout, she makes sure that she's properly fueled.
To that end, she makes a coconut smoothie, which has a base of chia seeds, a banana,
berries, ice, and a coconut-based sports drink.
Specifically, Osaka makes sure that her pre-workout smoothie is chock-full of these ingredients.
She told Us Weekly,
"My favorite fruits to add in are strawberries, blueberries, and a frozen banana — sometimes
I add mangoes. My go-to trick is, if fruits are starting to go bad, rather than waste
them I cut them up and place them in portion-sized baggies and freeze them so they are ready
to go for my shakes."
"I'm just a regular 23-year-old who happens to play tennis. Tennis makes me hungry."
Just as Naomi Osaka makes sure that she's prepared for her workouts every day, she also
takes the time to care for herself after she completes her exercise. Once again, Osaka
will reach for a smoothie to nourish her, but this time she doesn't go crazy with the
sweetness.
She told Us Weekly,
"After my workouts, I'll make a recovery smoothie that has more vegetables instead of fruits.
I'll use spinach as my base, and then add in cucumbers, lemon, protein powder and Bodyarmor
Lyte Coconut, plus apples and pineapples sometimes for some extra sweetness."
And that's not all, as Osaka also boosts the flavor profile of the drink with spicy ingredients
like ginger, which we definitely support.
Indeed, while Osaka's recovery smoothie does have apples or pineapples in it, she added
that they take a backseat to the spinach and cucumbers after the workout is over, saying,
"Most importantly, I make sure my evening smoothie is always more vegetable heavy vs
too much fruit."
The smoothies help her get plenty of fiber, which is important for a healthy diet.
You may or may not know this, but Naomi Osaka is from Japan. She was born there to a Haitian
father and a Japanese mother, but when she was 3 years old, she and her family relocated
to Long Island, New York. But that doesn't mean that Osaka has left Japan behind, far
from it — she even gave up her U.S. citizenship to play for Japan in the Olympics.
Clearly, Osaka's Asian heritage is important to her, and that's often reflected in the
foods that she eats. For example, when it's time for her afternoon meal, Osaka reaches
for a chirashi bowl with ponzu sauce, as noted by Vogue.
"Chirashi bowl, mmm, with ponzu sauce."
"Chirashi" means "scattered" in Japanese, which gives you a clue as to how the dish
is assembled — it's a bowl of rice with fish, vegetables, and other ingredients.
Competition is extremely important for Naomi Osaka, as it's where grand slams are won or
lost, and history is made. To that end, what Osaka eats during tennis matches couldn't
be more important.
So, what does Osaka eat during competition season? According to executive chef Dayanny
de la Cruz, who was in charge of food at the 2021 Miami Open, there are some favorites
among Osaka and other tennis stars. She told People,
"Everything is p opular since they eat a lot. But past experience tells me that the pasta
station and yogurt parfaits are what they will love the most."
That's how things played out two years prior, according to de la Cruz. She explained,
"We had to make an average of 300 to 400 a-la-carte pasta dishes a day for them two years ago
during the last Miami Open, and we went through 400 yogurt parfaits in one day. We have plenty
of delicious pastas and yogurt parfaits ready this time around."
There's a good chance that Osaka dined on one, if not both, of those dishes.
Speaking of what Naomi Osaka eats before a big tennis match, aside from a potential meal
of pasta and yogurt afterward, Osaka has a funny story. On the night before her big win
against Serena Williams at the 2021 Australian Open, Osaka decided to change up her pre-match
meal.
She said in a post-game interview,
"For the past three weeks I've been eating Japanese food on the day before my match,
and yesterday, I decided to eat Greek food."
While that in and of itself isn't anything to write home about, what happened the next
day certainly was. First, there was the stunning upset that happened in the match between Stefanos
Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal as Osaka tells it. She said,
"So then I went to sleep and I woke u p, and Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Rafael Nadal so I'm
like, 'Ooh, maybe this is a sign.' Maybe I should keep eating Greek food!'"
As we all know, Osaka went on to beat Williams that day, so maybe there's something to the
moussaka, olives, and feta!
In May of 2021, Naomi Osaka's habit of dining at Sweetgreen turned lucrative for her. That's
when she became the first-ever athlete ambassador for the healthy chain, where she reportedly
dines several times per week while training. As part of the partnership, Sweetgreen took
her regular order and put it on the menu in their app. Specifically, Osaka's custom bowl
consists of warm quinoa, baby spinach, cilantro, tomato, tortilla chips, raw carrots, goat
cheese, blackened chicken, lime-cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette, avocado and Sweetgreen hot sauce.
The partnership with Sweetgreen looks to be a mutually-beneficial one, as the chain's
options seems to align with Osaka's personal food philosophy.
She said in a statement,
"I'm proud to join forces with Sweetgreen to change the way the world thinks of traditional
fast-food sponsorships. As an athlete, what I put into my body directly correlates to
how I perform and eating delicious, healthy foods fuels my daily routine."
She added that she's excited to, quote, "create a positive impact" with the restaurant.
"Okay Naomi, Sweetgreen is naming a salad after us. What shall we put in it?"
Even though dinner might not have the reputation that breakfast does when it comes to importance,
it's certainly something that Osaka prioritizes. Given what she eats the night before she has
to perform, this is not the least bit surprising, either.
She told PureWow,
"I usually eat dinner around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. but sometimes the times get a little bit pushed
back. My dinner is very, very important so I don't really miss that one that much."
So, what exactly is it that Osaka likes to enjoy for her evening meal? She said,
"Before matches, I eat plain pasta with olives or chicken. It's not too complicated."
However, there likely are nights when Osaka feels like cooking a special family recipe,
such as her mother's spicy lamb stew, which is a fusion of Japanese and Haitian cuisines.
She told Priceless,
"I would definitely describe my two favorite styles of food as Japanese and Haitian, so
this is a match made in heaven for my taste buds. I have fond memories of this dish for
as long as I can remember."
One of the things that we all got pretty good at in quarantine was cooking our own meals.
For some of us, it was the first time we found ourselves with a ton of spare time on our
hands, and Naomi Osaka definitely took advantage of that.
She told Us Weekly,
"I really love cooking. I got to experiment with it during quarantine — and it just
made me love it even more."
She told Glamour that because she travels so much as a pro-tennis player, being at home
to cook was a welcome change. She said,
"When you're on the road as much as I am, having the chance to be home and cook is really
relaxing and comforting."
One dish in particular that Osaka decided to master during her time in lockdown was
risotto, a dish that she really made her own.
She continued,
"I love the texture and comfort of risotto, but I put my own spin on it. I added protein
that you don't normally find in risotto, changed up the cheese, and I use sushi rice."
Osaka's recipe is open-ended, too, so you can customize it based on what you have lying
around.
She told Glamour,
"This is a good time to experiment, and you can substitute items in this dish that you
may have in the house. You may have leftover steak or shrimp in the freezer, or you could
add in chicken."
While the vast majority of Naomi Osaka's diet appears to be extremely healthy, she does
have an affinity for a certain kind of frozen treat. When asked if she was a fan of ice
cream, she told Teen Vogue,
"Only green tea ice cream. I don't eat it when I'm training, but if I win a tournament,
I would want to. But I still haven't."
Eventually, Osaka finally did eat her celebratory green tea ice cream in 2018, after fans began
tagging her in social media posts about the dessert. She tweeted about it, saying,
"So I finally ate green tea ice cream haha. You can stop tagging me in your ice cream
pics now lol."
But Osaka must have broadened her ice cream horizons, as she later sang the praises of
another flavor entirely, telling Us Weekly,
"I love vanilla ice cream with no toppings. Nothing can top a plain bowl in my eyes."
Hey, all ice cream is good ice cream.
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