WITH four Grand Slam titles under her belt, a groundbreaking Asian record beside her name, and a very charismatic personality, Japanese ace Naomi Osaka is a true global tennis con.
She's so popular that toy manufacturer Mattel has made a toy version of her for the ever-popular Barbie line, including her as its newest character in its long-running #YouCanBeAnything campaign.
The popular toy line recently released a 'Naomi Osaka Barbie Role Model Doll,' which was sold out in less than a day.
"Naomi inspires us to have the courage to reach for our dreams, and reminds us to be your own biggest champion," the brand said in a statement during the launch.
The doll version of the 23-year-old tennister is dressed in a full Nike tennis gear from head to toe, with an accurate sculpt of Osaka's face, hair, and skin tone.
It even has a little miniature tennis racket accessory.
The toy's outfit was patterned after the kit Osaka wore during the 2020 Australian Open, where she finished in the third round.
A Filipino toy designer was behind the Naomi doll
The lead artist behind all these was Filipino-American designer Carlyle Nuera, who works at Barbie Signature at Mattel, Inc.
Prior to taking on Naomi Osaka, Nuera has done already done several projects within the company.
In an Instagram post, he showed his appreciation for the young tennis icon.
"What inspires me most about Naomi is how she uses her platform. We stan a queen that wears masks in support of Black Lives Matter on the court, a queen that prioritizes her own mental health over the media system," he said.
He also revealed that his team was able to talk to Naomi via videocall to discuss some final touches on the doll.
"Nike sent us the dress to examine and recreate the binding, the mesh inserts, the brush stroke print, all of it. They also sent us shoes that we could paint gray, digitally scan and miniaturize in Barbie scale, keeping all the details of the shoe design," he shared.
And that racket?
"Yonex also sent us a sample racket for us to digitally scan. Naomi wanted her Barbie to have her golden ombré hair and pearl earrings, so that’s what she got," Nuera explained.
Nuera also revealed that three years ago, he also headed the team behind the Naomi Osaka One Of A Kind Barbie doll in 2019. He was happy to get the team back together — this time, to work on this even bigger project.
And even Naomi was pleased with the results.
"I really hope every child is reminded that they can be and do anything. This is really seeing a dream of mine come to life, having your own Barbie and potentially seeing little kids playing with it. OMG," she said on Instagram.
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