Naomi Osaka — one of Japan’s top-ranked tennis professionals has become the newest brand ambassador for Citizen.

Under the brand statement “Better Starts Now,” which encapsulates the belief that no matter who you are and what you do, it is always possible to make something better — and now is the time to start doing it, CITIZEN embarks on a new pivotal brand initiative since its foundation a hundred years ago in 1918. Always pursuing the discovery of new possibilities in watchmaking through industry-leading technologies and unequivocal skills as a manufacture d’horlogerie, CITIZEN’s new century of excellence starts now.

In the same spirit of striving to become even better, tennis professional Naomi Osaka is the ideal “Better Starts Now” symbol to demonstrate an uncompromising drive to become the top of her game worldwide without the pretension that sometimes comes with fame and accomplishment.

CITIZEN continues to support athletes of various sports from figure skating, table tennis to rugby, who represent not only Japan but other countries as well, in their pursuit of sports excellence. This integral spirit of always striving to improve befittingly aligns with the company’s deep-rooted philosophy of constant innovation as a true manufacture d’horlogerie throughout all phases of manufacturing from design and production of movement components to the watch’s final assembly.

Naomi Osaka continues to advance in the sport, challenging top players from around the world. As a young and energetic professional, she has a prominent future ahead, which makes her an ideal partner for CITIZEN’s “Better Starts Now” brand communication.

Naomi Osaka will be wearing the CITIZEN Eco-Drive Bluetooth BZ4006-01E during the U.S. Open that started this Monday.

About Naomi Osaka

Born on October 16, 1997, in Osaka, Japan to a Haitian father and a Japanese mother. Moved to the U.S. at the age of three and currently resides in Florida. Started tennis taught by her father, joined the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments at the age of fourteen and turned professional in 2013. Qualified for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour championship in July of 2014 at the Bank of the West Classic for the first time. In January 2016, at the Australian Open, qualified to enter her first Grand Slam, rolling into the third round and achieved into the top 100 of the WTA rankings. In the same year, reached the third round of the French Open and US Open as well. In October 2016, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, reached her first WTA final and moved into the top 40 of WTA rankings. Won “Newcomer of the Year” at the 2016 WTA Awards, an award given to the player who made the biggest breakthrough.

CITIZEN WATCH, marked its 100th anniversary in 2018, is a true manufacture d’horlogerie with a comprehensive manufacturing process that extends from creating a watch’s individual components to its final assembly. The company operates in more than 130 countries around the world. Since its founding in 1918, CITIZEN has held the belief of “Better Starts Now” — that is, no matter who you are and what you do, it is always possible to make something better, and now is the time to start doing it. Sharing this belief, we have made watches, invented and improved technologies and explored the future of watches such as our propriety light-powered Eco-Drive technologyand state-of-the-art satellite-synchronised timekeeping