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Tag: Naomi Osaka

  • Naomi Osaka using lockdown to conquer inner demons

    Naomi Osaka using lockdown to conquer inner demons

    Two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is using the novel coronavirus shutdown as one of self-reflection to try and overcome her crippling shyness.

    The tennis season was suspended in early March, due to COVID-19 outbreak and the hiatus will continue until at least mid-July with many countries in lockdown to contain the virus.

    Japan’s Osaka, who trains in the U.S., the country worst affected by the flu-like virus with over 1.4 million infections and more than 83,000 deaths, is taking advantage of the extended break to do some soul searching.

    “I think people know me as being really shy… I want to take the quarantine time to just think about everything and for me, I have a lot of regrets before I go to sleep,” Osaka told CNN Sport.

    Petra Kvitova said last year Osaka would have to get used to having a target on her back after the Japanese said she struggled to deal with increased scrutiny in the wake of her rise to the top of the world rankings.

    “Most of the regrets are because I don’t speak out about what I’m thinking. I feel like if I asserted myself, I would have gotten the opportunity to see what would have happened,” Osaka said.

    Osaka, who became the first Japanese player to attain the world number one ranking following her 2019 Australian Open victory, believes tennis is not a top priority at the moment.

    “I want to take this time to learn something new because I’m pretty sure I won’t have this much free time ever again. It’s not like I’ll forget how to play tennis,” the world number 10 added.

    With no access to gyms and tennis courts, the 22-year-old found a training partner in former world number one Venus Williams, with the two sharing a workout session on social media.

    “I don’t want to train five hours a day right now because I think that’s how you get burned out and you never know when tournaments will start again,” Osaka said.

    “I did an Instagram live with Venus just now. It was kind of more intense than I thought it was going to be.

    “For some reason I thought we were going to be stretching, but yeah, we were doing a bit of movement drills and then lunges and stuff.”

  • 15-year-old Coco Gauff ousts Naomi Osaka in Australian Open

    15-year-old Coco Gauff ousts Naomi Osaka in Australian Open

    Fifteen year-old American tennis sensation, Cori Gauff has ousted Australian Open defending champion, Naomi Osaka, defeating her in two sets 6-3 6-4 to equal her Grand Slam 4th round record.

    The two players had met in the third round of the US Open last September, in which Osaka prevailed and also had to play the nanny, consoling the younger player. Gauff had made the fourth round of the Wimbledon Grand Slam last year.

    The youngest player in the draw will play 14th seed Sofia Kenin of the United States or China’s Zhang Shuai.

    “Oh my gosh. Two years ago I lost the first round in the juniors and now I’m here — this is crazy,” said Gauff.

    “I was just telling myself one point at a time and just keep fighting because you never know what happens on this court.”

    This was the second instalment of a budding rivalry that could light up tennis for the next decade or more, having met at the US Open, where Osaka won easily.

    The teenager Gauff, who spent time training with Serena Williams in the off-season, had said she would be less nervous and more aggressive this time round.

    And so it proved as they rattled through the first five games in barely 15 minutes at the 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Arena.

    Osaka, a relative veteran at age 22, fired into the net to drop serve in game eight and then racked up more unforced errors in gifting Gauff the first set in 32 minutes.

    “Come on!” shouted Gauff, ranked 67 but fast making a name for herself as the most exciting prospect in women’s tennis.

    The young American carried the momentum into the first game of the second set, breaking a subdued and rattled Osaka, a two-time Grand Slam champion.

    The Japanese broke back for 1-1 when Gauff volleyed into the net, but it was a rare mistake by the American and she broke once more, before serving for the match at 5-4.

    The nerveless teenager clinched victory on the first match point when Osaka fired into the net.

    Gauff announced herself to the sporting world at Wimbledon last year when, as a qualifier, she stunned Venus Williams in the first round.

    She did the same thing to the seven-time Grand Slam champion on her Melbourne debut this week, then came back from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday.

    When Gauff and Osaka met five months ago in New York, also in round three, then-world number one Osaka crushed the tearful and overawed teenager 6-3, 6-0 in a little over an hour.

    That first clash was memorable also for what happened afterwards, when the teenager cried and Osaka consoled her, before Osaka herself began welling up.

  • How Beyonce changed my life – Naomi Osaka

    How Beyonce changed my life – Naomi Osaka

    Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka has revealed her excitement at meeting her idol Beyonce, saying the US singer “smelled expensive” and gave her a morale-boosting pep talk at a low point last year.

    The two-time Grand Slam champion, who will be defending her Australian Open title this month, bumped into Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z while still “depressed” after losing in the fourth round at the US Open.

    “I met Beyonce and Jay-Z during the off-season. She just smelled expensive and beautiful and she was soft and she hugged me,” Osaka told the WTA website. “I was like, this is what heaven is.”

    The meeting came in the aftermath of Osaka’s defeat at Flushing Meadow to Belinda Bencic, which ended her first Grand Slam title defence.

    “She was talking to me and she said she was proud of me. I thought, wow, that actually was a really important moment,” said the 22-year-old, who stunned Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open final.

    “I felt really depressed after I lost my match, but I’m thinking about the impact that tennis players — I don’t think we know, I don’t think we’re aware of all the good that we can do.

    “That was kind of an eye-opening thing. Even though it was one of my worst points, to lose — I wanted to be a defending champion and I lost early — there’s still something really good that came out of that.

    “There are some things that I have to remember are out of my control, especially past events. So I just have to put myself in a position to not regret anything.”

    Osaka hired a new coach in the off-season, Wim Fissette, having split with Jermaine Jenkins following the US Open, and said she was raring to go after her 2019 season was abruptly cut short by injury at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.

     

  • Tokyo 2020: Osaka selects Japanese citizenship ahead of Olympic Games

    Tokyo 2020: Osaka selects Japanese citizenship ahead of Olympic Games

    Two time tennis grand slam champion, Naomi Osaka, intends to play for the hosts at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after choosing to maintain Japanese citizenship.

    The 21-year-old, told Japanese broadcaster NHK in an interview on Thursday that she had begun the necessary administrative procedures.

    Under Japanese law, duel citizens must choose one nationality before reaching 22 years of age.

    Osaka, whose mother is Japanese and father Haitian, also has American nationality but presently represents Japan when playing.

    “It gives me a special feeling to try to go to the Olympics to represent Japan,’’ Osaka said.

    “I think I will be able to put more of my emotion into it by playing for the pride of the country.’’

    Osaka became the first Japanese major winner by claiming the 2018 U.S. Open and followed that triumph with the Australian Open this year.

    She is currently number three in the world rankings. (

  • Andreescu to face Osaka in China open quarter-finals

    Andreescu to face Osaka in China open quarter-finals

    Bianca Andreescu will play Naomi Osaka for the first time after both players advanced to the quarter-finals of the China Open.

    Osaka, 21, lost only four games with a 6-4 6-0 win over USA’s Alison Riske, before Andreescu came past American qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-1 6-3.

    The 19-year-old Canadian is on a 16-match-winning streak, which saw her lift the US Open trophy last month.

    World number four Osaka, from Japan, is the current Australian Open Champion.

  • Barty, Osaka advance into China Open last 16, Kerber knocked out

    Barty, Osaka advance into China Open last 16, Kerber knocked out

    Top seeds Ash Barty and Naomi Osaka cruised into the last 16 of the China Open on Tuesday in Beijing with straight sets victories in their second round matches.

    World number one Barty, who received a bye into the second round, started her campaign with a 6-4 6-2 win over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, wrapping up the contest in 75 minutes.

    Barty fired seven aces, converted four of nine break points and smashed 23 winners in a clinical display which she said was enough to get the job done.

    “It was solid today without being fantastic,” Barty said. “It was what we needed to do today. There were times where it was pretty good and there were times where it was challenging.

    “It’s a court that I think is tough to neutralise and play defence over a long period. It’s definitely a court that you get your bang for buck and you get value when you try to take the initiative.”

    Japan’s Osaka, seeded fourth, needed only 59 minutes to brush aside German qualifier Andrea Petkovic with a dominant 6-2 6-0 win.

    Osaka converted five break points and fired 21 winners in a one-sided contest to set up a clash with American Alison Riske.

    The American had beaten Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the only three-set match of the day.

    Angelique Kerber’s poor form dragged on after another early exit at the hands of Slovenia’s Polona Hercog who won 6-4 6-2.

    Apart from a semi-final run in Osaka, 10th seed Kerber has not moved past the second round of tournaments in Zhengzhou, Wuhan and now Beijing.

    China’s Zheng Saisai converted five of six break points to beat former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-1 in 76 minutes to set up a last-16 clash with Barty.

    Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova beat France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-4.

    But 12th seed Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Wuhan Open title over the weekend, was knocked out by Russia’s unseeded Daria Kasatkina 6-4 7-6(5).

  • Naomi Osaka sent packing from Wimbledon

    Naomi Osaka sent packing from Wimbledon

    World number two Naomi Osaka’s hopes of a third Grand Slam title were shredded on Centre Court as she was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round.
    The Japanese lost 6(4)-7 2-6 to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva on Monday.
    Osaka failed to find her range on the slick lawns of the All England Club, tumbling out amid a flurry of unforced errors.
    She had nervelessly battered her way to Grand Slam success at the U.S. and Australian Open.
    Putintseva was far from an unknown quantity for Osaka, having recently knocked her out in Birmingham.
    She again proved a resolute obstacle for the Japanese, fighting back after an early break to take the first set on a tiebreak.
    The Kazakh broke the Japanese second seed twice in a dominant second set, wrapping up victory in an hour and 36 minutes when her opponent sliced a backhand into the net.

  • Osaka outlasts Sakkari to move into Birmingham last-16

    Osaka outlasts Sakkari to move into Birmingham last-16

    World number one Naomi Osaka was tested by Maria Sakkari in her first round match at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham on Tuesday.

    But she eventually went through to the last-16 of the grasscourt tournament with a hard-fought 6-1 4-6 6-3 win.

    In her first match since her third round exit at Roland Garros earlier this month, the 21-year-old Osaka struggled.

    She battled with her first serve against the world number 33 and took two hours to dispatch her Greek opponent.

    However the Japanese, who lost to Sakkari prior to her U.S. Open title run last year, did manage to fire seven aces.

    She won five breakpoints to clinch victory on a surface she had previously admitted was not her strongest.

    Elsewhere, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko stormed into the next round with a 6-0 6-2 demolition of Iga Swiatek.

    Petra Martic saw off the challenge of Ekaterina Alexandrova with a 6-3 7-5 win.

    Venus Williams’ match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich was delayed due to rain.

    Second seed and French Open champion Ashleigh Barty was set to take on Donna Vekic later on Tuesday.

  • Siniakova ends Osaka’s unbeaten Grand Slam run

    Siniakova ends Osaka’s unbeaten Grand Slam run

    Naomi Osaka’s 16-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments came to an end on Saturday at the French Open in Paris.

    The Japanese lost in straight sets to Katerina Siniakova in the third round of the year’s second Grand Slam.

    The top-seeded Osaka was beaten by Czech Siniakova, the world’s top-ranked doubles player, 6-4 6-2 on a hot day at the Court Suzanne-Lenglen at Roland Garros.

    Osaka, who has yet to reach the second week in four appearances in Paris, got broken three times and failed to take her chances.

    In spite of entering Roland Garros as world number one for the first time, Osaka was taken to three sets in her first two matches.

    She rallied back to beat world No. 90 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the first round after losing the first set.

    The top seed recovered from a set and a break down in a second round clash against fellow double Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

    With back-to-back titles at the US Open and the Australian Open, the 21-year-old from Japan had been trying to do something not even the greatest players in tennis history have done.

    This is winning their first three Grand Slam singles title in a row.

    The 42nd-ranked Siniakova, who is the reigning French Open and Wimbledon doubles champion, showed off her doubles credentials in the opening set, unsettling her opponent with sliced forehands and drop shots.

    Breaking serve at 4-4, Siniakova clinched the first set in 44 minutes on her second set point as Osaka dumped a forehand into the net.

    Osaka struggled to settle in the second set, going down a double break with a double fault.

    Serving for her first win over a world number one at 5-2, Siniakova kept her nerve and won the match on Osaka’s 38th error.

  • World number one Naomi Osaka splits with coach

    World number one Naomi Osaka splits with coach

    World number one Naomi Osaka has split with her coach Sascha Bajin 16 days after winning the Australian Open.

    The Japanese 21-year-old, whose win in Melbourne sealed back-to-back Grand Slam titles, worked with the German for just over a year.

    “I will no longer be working together with Sascha,” Osaka tweeted. “I thank him for his work and wish him all the best in the future.”

    Bajin was named WTA coach of the year for 2018.

    He is a former hitting partner of Grand Slam champions Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki.

    Bajin thanked Osaka and said he wished her “nothing but the best”.

    “What a ride that was,” he tweeted. “Thank you for letting me be part of this.”

    Under Bajin, Osaka rose from world number 72 at the start of 2018 to the summit of the rankings little over a year later.

    No reason has been given for the split, which comes less than six months after he said he was in it for the long haul.

    BBC