Naomi Osaka caught in 'disgusting' photo controversy

Naomi Osaka’s boyfriend has sparked more controversy in the aftermath of her US Open triumph.

The Japanese star won her second US Open and third grand slam title with victory over Victoria Azarenka in Saturday’s final at Flushing Meadows.

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But her boyfriend - American rapper Cordae - has taken some of the shine off her victory with his actions during post-match celebrations.

A number of photos have emerged of Osaka celebrating her victory with the trophy in which Cordae can be seen flipping his middle finger at the camera.

American Olympian Lauren Perdue Britt was among those to take offence to Cordae’s actions.

“All I can say about this photo is sweetie, you can do better in the boyfriend department,” the gold medallist swimmer tweeted.

Sports journalist Trent Courtright was also scathing.

“Naomi Osaka wins the US Open and her boyfriend makes it all about him. Show some class,” he tweeted.

“The US Open has always been a prestigious event and for them to endorse this behaviour publicly is a shame.

“I’m an advocate for freedom of speech, but flipping the bird when your girlfriend (not yourself) wins the tournament is dampening the gravity of a significant achievement.”

Others described the photos as “disgusting” and “classless”.

Many pointed out that thousands of Osaka’s young fans would have seen the photos.

Naomi Osaka turns from athlete to activist

Osaka and Cordae made a number of political statements during the two-week tournament in New York, with the latter wearing a shirt that said “defund the police” at the final.

Osaka capped a transformative US Open with a challenge to the millions watching across the globe on Saturday to “start talking” about racial justice.

Striding into Arthur Ashe Stadium for her first-round match 12 days ago, Osaka put her activism front-and-centre from the start, wearing a mask to honour Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police officers who burst into her apartment in March.

Osaka would go on to recognise seven different Black Americans - one for each of the seven rounds of the tournament - bringing the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality to her sport's broad international fan base.

Asked after her final what message she hoped to send with her masks, she turned the question on her interviewer: “What was the message that you got? The point is to make people start talking.”

Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother, spent her formative years in the United States and lives in Los Angeles. She represents her birth country in competition but her influence defies international borders.

“Everything that I was doing off the court was sort of on the court at the same time too,” she said in a televised interview after her three-sets win over Azarenka in the final.

“It made me stronger because I felt like I have more desire to win because I want to show more names.”

Tennis pioneer Billie Jean King said the action put her in the pantheon of the greatest athlete activists.

“It has been more than 50 years since athletes like Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith and the Original 9 of women's tennis all stood up and used their sport, their voices and their actions to change humanity,” she said.

“The baton has been passed and Naomi has accepted it.”

Her final mask of the US Open bore the name of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black child who was holding a toy gun when a police officer shot and killed him in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014.

She said she thought about wearing the mask for her trophy ceremony but was told not to don a face covering for the exchange.

with AAP