Naomi Osaka (opens in new tab) burst onto the tennis scene in 2014 at just 16 years old, and since pulling off a major upset over the former U.S. Open champion in her first professional match, she has risen to the top of the rankings, winning multiple Grand Slam titles and beating many more top-ranked players in the process In the process, she has defeated many more top-ranked players. Off the court, Osaka is known for her activism and unwavering commitment to mental health (open in new tab) - but less well known is her low-key relationship with rapper Cordae.

A multiple Grand Slam winner, the highest-earning female athlete in 2020, and on the "Time 100" list for two consecutive years, the two first dated together at an L.A. Clippers game, their relationship was first reported in April 2019 (opens in new tab) and then began appearing on each other's social media feeds, and the following December they made their first public appearance as a couple at another Clippers game.

Here's a primer on the rapper, who, like Osaka, first made waves at the age of 16 and has a reputation (opens in new tab) for being "ahead of his time."

Just weeks after Osaka made headlines with his professional debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic, Cordé, also then 16, took his first steps toward national stardom. The Maryland native released his first mixtape, Anxiety, in June of that year under the stage name Entendre. Two more mixtapes followed, 2016's I'm So Anxious and 2017's I'm So Anonymous, and the rapper from Cordae Dunston attended Towson University for several years.

In 2018, he joined the YBN collective, rebranding as YBN Cordae, and collaborated on the 2018 YBN: The Mixtape. He also began putting out solo singles, starting with a remix of Eminem's "My Name Is" that immediately received widespread praise via the WorldStarHipHop YouTube channel.

In July 2019, as YBN Cordae, the musician released his debut solo album, The Lost Boy. It debuted at #6 on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart, was praised by critics and fans, and was nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song ("Bad Idea") at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

YBN disbanded in August 2020, and Cordé dropped the group's name from her stage name to focus on her solo career in earnest." I'm about 100 songs deep. 'I love doing music and I love perfecting my craft. The new songs to come will show that."

Osaka has been outspoken in his support for the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and Cordé has been vocal about it as well. Last summer, he shared a video (opens in new tab) of another BLM protest he attended in 2015 in between participating in protests demanding justice for the deaths of Breanna Taylor and George Floyd. And in September, when Osaka was in the news for wearing a face mask in honor of black Americans killed by police at the U.S. Open, Cordes cheered her on from the stands with a "Defund the police" shirt.

Additionally, last July, Corday was among a group of 87 people arrested in front of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's home during a protest demanding justice for Breanna Taylor, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported at the time (opens in new tab (open in new tab). Then in October, he opened the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards with an impassioned freestyle (opens in new tab) about racism and police brutality.

While Osaka is known for her calm demeanor on the court, Kolde provides more than enough excitement for the two from the stands. He is also an expert at making time in his busy schedule to be supportive as a boyfriend: as Osaka says in their joint interview on the cover of GQ (opens in new tab), when she had to isolate herself alone before the 2020 US Open, For the first time, Osaka didn't have her father by her side, but Cordé flew in to be there for her.

Cordé says he wasn't always comfortable in that space; of the 2019 U.S. Open, he told GQ: "It was the first time in my life that I was in an environment like that. My elementary, middle, and high schools were 99.9 percent black. They were kids just like me. It was really weird to be in that space. That was my first tennis match."

Cordes also spoke to GQ about how she learned that a tennis pro was her perfect opponent. 'I can't be with someone who doesn't have substance, someone who doesn't act or think on the same frequency or wavelength as me. For example, Naomi was born in Japan. So she has a very global perspective. My perspective has always been that I am a young black man in America. But she has a more global perspective. I have just been traveling around the world for the last two years. We were always recommending books and movies to each other. So we're constantly feeding our brains."

Such support and admiration is, of course, a two-way street. Last August, on Cordé's 23rd birthday, Ōsaka got sentimental on Instagram, writing, "I always feel so lucky to be in your life and to keep learning from you. I can talk to you about anything and get advice from you, and I am so grateful for that.

The two work hard to keep their relationship low-key, Cordes told GQ. 'We are very reclusive. Because intimate moments feel like they're sacred. Because a relationship is truly sacred. If it's subject to outside influences, it's not sacred," Cordé said.

"It's not my sport," he told GQ. 'If you asked me about tennis before I immersed myself in it because of Naomi, I could only give you Venus and Serena Williams.'

Proof he is not playing: