Leonard Francois' bio: age, nationality, profession, wife, kids

May 22, 2024

Leonard Francois is a tennis coach and the father of Naomi Osaka, a professional tennis player. Leonard is the reason behind Naomi's success since he taught his two children how to play tennis. Find out more information about him.

Leonard François discovered the talent in his two daughters, Mari and Naomi, and started training them early enough.

Profile summary

Full name: Leonard Maxime Francois
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Jacmel, Haiti
Leonard Francois' nationality: Haitian
Famous as: Naomi Osaka's father
Sexuality: Straight
Height in feet: 6'0"
Height in centimeters: 183
Eye colour: Dark brown
Hair colour: Black
Marital status: Married
Spouse: Tamaki Osaka
Children: Mari and Naomi Osaka
College: New York University
Occupation: Tennis coach

Leonard Francois' biography

Leonard Francois' age and date of birth are unknown. However, some sources trace his birth year to be around the 1980s, which means that he could be in his 40s as of 2021.

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What does Leonard Francois do for a living?

Naomi Osaka's father is a tennis coach who started training his daughters, Mari and Naomi, while they were very young. He has always been supportive of their career.

During an interview, Naomi even revealed that her father is always very nervous during her matches:

"I think he might take long walks because maybe my matches stress him out."

Here is what she said concerning Leonard Francois' job, which is training them:

"When I was growing up, my mum always worked, my mother was working a lot because my dad was always with us. He was the one who was our coach."

To ensure that there was a total commitment to training his daughters to be superstars, he did not send them to school. Instead, he homeschooled them just as Richard Williams did to his daughters. This way, he could intertwine their academic and tennis education.

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He trained Mari and Naomi and always encouraged them to achieve the best. He also thought it was better for them to represent Japan in international matches than the USA due to the lack of support from the US.

Mari and Naomi were not promoted by the United States Tennis Association because they were still amateurs. Naomi has also expressed her preference for Japanese culture over American culture. According to her,

"My dad thought that since I grew up around my mom and I have a lot of Japanese relatives. I don't know, I don't necessarily feel like I'm American. And I wouldn't know what that feels like."

Naomi Osaka is known to have given up her American citizenship after she turned 22.

Leonard Francois and Naomi Osaka added that Naomi had already committed to the Japan tennis association when the US association tried to recruit her.

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Who is Leonard Francois' wife?

The celebrity is married to Tamaki Osaka, a Japan native he met back in college in the early 1990s. This was around the time when Japan allowed its first wave of foreigners in the country.

They met in Sapporo, Hokkaido's capital. By then, Francois was in college in New York, while Tamaki was still in high school.

Their relationship was blossoming when interracial relationships were not allowed in Japan. As a result, Leonard and Tamaki had to keep their connection hidden from the public eye, including Tamaki's own family.

When they finally revealed their relationship to Tamaki's father, he accused her of tarnishing their family name.

Nevertheless, they still stuck together and secretly got married and started a family. Leonard Francois and Tamaki Osaka welcomed their daughters, Mari and Naomi, who were born 18 months apart.

Tamaki's family planned to make their daughter separate from her husband, and she was not allowed to reunite with Leonard Francois.

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She returned to Japan with her two daughters, and because of the distance between Naomi's parents, the girls adopted their mother's name, Osaka. This was as per the Japanese Family Registration Law (Koseki).

After the reunion, they moved back to the USA, where Naomi Osaka's father, Leonard Francois, continued training them to play tennis. The family currently lives in Japan.

Leonard Francois' height

Leonard Francois is 6 feet 0 inches (183 cm) tall. He has dark brown eyes and black hair.

Leonard Francois is a supportive father and spouse as well as a tennis coach. He has spent his time teaching his daughters how to be the best tennis players globally. He is the driving force behind his daughters' professional accomplishments.

Legit.ng recently published an article on the biography of Gillian Tayloforth. Gillian is an English actress best known for her role as Kathy Beale in the soap opera EastEnders.

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Source: Legit.ng

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