August 8, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Naomi Osaka (JPN) during a halftime break in a match against Elise Mertens (not pictured) during the second round of the match at Sobeys Stadium.
17:51 JST, August 25, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Naomi Osaka is playing at the U.S. Open for the first time in two years. She said Saturday that it’s a boost to return to the place where she has won two of her four Grand Slam singles titles, but not because she’s focused on her past successes there.
No, Osaka explained, it’s more about harking back to the time she lived in New York as a child and came as a fan to watch “all the famous players you can name,” like Rafael Nadal, Serena and Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova.
“I think it helps me to come to this particular tournament. But also, when I step foot here, I don’t really think about the two tournaments I won,” said the 26-year-old Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father; the family moved to New York when she was 3. “I just think about how I felt when I was a kid, because I grew up here and I have such vivid memories of watching my favorite players. It’s more of a childhood nostalgia that I really enjoy.”
She won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and was previously ranked No. 1. But after a combination of time off — first for mental health issues, then because she had a baby — and mediocre results this season — she is 18-15 in 2024 — Osaka is currently ranked No. 85. She faces No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, on Tuesday at Flushing Meadows.
Last year, Osaka visited the US Open, watched tennis and participated in a discussion about mental health with Michael Phelps.
After being knocked out in the qualifying rounds for the hard-court tournament at the Cincinnati Open this month, Osaka posted on social media about her dealing with defeat and how she couldn’t quite understand why she wasn’t playing as well as she used to.
“My biggest issue right now isn’t the loss, but the biggest issue is not feeling like I’m in my body. It’s a weird feeling, missing balls that I shouldn’t be missing, hitting balls softer than I remember. I try to tell myself, ‘It’s okay, you’re doing great, just get through this and keep pushing.’ Mentally though, it’s really draining,” she wrote. “Inside, I can hear myself screaming, ‘What… is happening?!?!’”
She added that “the only feeling I can compare myself to right now is the feeling of just having a baby” and “I don’t understand why everything has to feel almost new again.”
One problem has been that she has had difficulty changing surfaces lately: from the red clay at Roland Garros to the grass at Wimbledon, the clay at the Olympic Games in Paris and now also the hard court.
Another problem was a lack of confidence, something that was partly due to early exits: in the second round of Roland Garros against eventual champion Iga Swiatek, even after being just one point away from victory; in the second round of Wimbledon against Emma Navarro; in the first round of the Summer Games against three-time major champion Angelique Kerber.
“I feel like I’ve had really tough matches all year, and that’s hurt my confidence a little bit,” Osaka said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve played bad tennis. I would just say I’ve played against really good players.”
The revealing things she shares on social media every now and then help her think more clearly.
“It’s like you’re speaking your words into the universe and letting them go,” Osaka said. “After you see it, you’re kind of free from the thoughts that are clouding your mind.”
Now, she said Saturday, she feels “much better” and is training “at a very high level.”
“I hope,” Osaka said, “that I can also play matches at a very high level.”
