Naomi Osaka leaves IMG to launch her own sports agency

Duguid and Naomi Osaka began discussing the venture during the Tokyo Olympics last year. According to an email from Duguid to Reuters, adding that the company, called Evolve, will operate as a “small boutique and bespoke agency.”

Naomi Osaka, a four-time major winner, leaves IMG to form her own sports agency with longtime agent Stuart Duguid.

Duguid and Osaka began discussing the venture during the Tokyo Olympics last year. According to an email from Duguid to Reuters, adding that the company, called Evolve, will operate as a “small boutique and bespoke agency.”

“We were talking about the business models of some of her mentors, like Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron James” (James). We wondered why no transcendent female athlete had done so.

“It’s athlete-driven and focused on long-term brand development rather than quick checks with a commission attached.”

Duguid said he couldn’t reveal much about the initial clients’ identities but that “it would be only athletes who exceed their sports or those with the potential to do so.”

Former world number one Osaka, Japan’s first Grand Slam winner, has emerged as a leading advocate for athlete mental health and wellbeing. Since withdrawing from the French Open a year ago and revealing she had been anguish from depression for years.

On Wednesday, she tweeted a montage of clips from her earlier playing days with the caption, “Hey kid. You’ve come a long way. And even though there have been some bumps in the road, I hope you know you’re doing amazing.”

She speculated in one of the clips about what she would do if she wasn’t a tennis player. “I just enjoy sports,” she said. “Perhaps (in the end) I’d be an agent.”