Osaka also paid tribute to Bryant shortly after his death in a heartfelt letter she wrote to her "big bro" on Twitter. "Hey... I don't really know what to do so I'm writing you this letter," she wrote. "Thank you for being you. Thank you for inspiring people everywhere, you have no idea how many hearts you've touched. Thank you for being so humble and not acting as big as you are.. Thank you for caring and checking up on me after my hard losses."
Osaka continued, "Thank you for randomly texting me 'You ok?', cause you know how f***** up my head is sometimes. Thank you for teaching me so much in the short time I've been lucky enough to have known you. Thank you for existing. You will forever be my big bro/mentor/inspiration. Love you."
In February, Osaka posted a video on Twitter of her playing tennis with Bryant. "He wasn't THAT bad at tennis... haha love you bro," she wrote. As noted by People, Osaka was referring to a story shared by Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, who said at Bryant's memorial service that the basketball star got tired of being beaten at tennis by Pelinka so he signed up for tennis lessons. "Typical Mamba mentality," said Pelinka.
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