Tag: Osaka

Former world number one Naomi Osaka claimed her first win at Wimbledon since 2018 when she recovered from a break down in the final set to defeat Diane Parry of France.

The Japanese star, a four-time Grand Slam title winner, came through 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Osaka raced through the first set in just 22 minutes before her 53rd ranked rival levelled the contest.

In a rollercoaster decider, Parry was 3-1 ahead before Osaka battled back to 3-3.

Osaka then saved two break points to edge 5-4 ahead and claimed victory when Parry served up her 10^th  double fault of the match.

Victory was extra special for Osaka as it comes a day before her daughter Shai celebrates her first birthday.

 “It feels like a dream because I haven’t played here many times,” said Osaka, whose last appearance at the All England Club was in 2019, when she exited in the first round.

“I hope it was fun for everyone to watch. I’m really excited to be here because Wimbledon was the first tournament I watched last year after my pregnancy.”

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Osaka, who only returned to the tour at the start of the season after maternity leave, is ranked at 113 and required a wild card to play at Wimbledon.

At the recent French Open, she gave world number one Iga Swiatek a mighty scare, holding a match point in their second-round clash before the Pole prevailed.

“My heart was racing today. These are the types of matches you need to play to ease into the tournament,” she said. “I’m glad I didn’t have to play a final set tiebreaker.”

Osaka said she found it a challenge to dig deep when she was down a break in the decider.

“I can be a little bit down on myself but I’m really trying to stay positive,” explained the 26-year-old.

“There’s a really nice man over here that was just telling me ‘Come on Naomi’ and I was like ‘Yeah, I got this, I got this’ so thank you.”

Osaka will face US 19^th  seed Emma Navarro or Wang Qiang of China for a place in the last 32.

Naomi Osaka said she wept after an  epic French Open defeat to Iga Swiatek but insisted: “I’ve felt worse”.

The Japanese superstar led 5-2 in the final set of a pulsating second round clash and even had a match point.

But defending champion Swiatek rallied impressively to record a 7-6 (7⁄1), 1-6, 7-5 win which kept her on course for a fourth title in Paris and fifth Grand Slam crown.

Former world number one Osaka, now ranked 134, was appearing at only a second Grand Slam since giving birth to her daughter last July.

 “It was the most fun match I have ever played, the atmosphere was incredible, it was very memorable for me,” said the 26-year-old.

 “I’ve felt worse, that’s for sure.”

Despite the defeat, Osaka said she can only take positives from the match which extended close to three hours and where she unleashed 54 blistering winners.

 “I cried when I came off court but then I thought of how last year I was watching Iga win the French Open while I was pregnant,” said Osaka after a match in which she won more points, had 17 more winners and more service breaks – five to three.

 “My dream then was to come and play against her, so when I think of that I try not to be too hard on myself.

 “I’m just here for the vibes. I’m a hard court kid; I’d like to play her on a hard court.”

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Osaka, who has never got past the third round in Paris, came into the tournament with a lot of clay court tennis under her belt.

She reached the last 16 in Rome, knocking out top 20 players Marta Kostyuk and Daria Kasatkina on the way.

 “I feel like I’m playing better because I have worked on specific things,” she added.

 “But the results are not resulting!”

Osaka said she also took comfort in her personal journal which she updated immediately after the match.

 “I wrote ‘I’m proud of you’. To say that to myself gives me power.”

Naomi Osaka’s return to the Rome Open ended at the last 16 to China’s Zheng Qinwen with men’s fourth seed Andrey Rublev also exiting as environmental activists stopped play in two matches.

China’s Zheng breezed past four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes to set up a last-eight clash with either Paula Badosa or third seed Coco Gauff.

Fourth seed Rublev, winner of the Madrid Open, was shocked 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in his third match by French qualifier Alexandre Muller.

Japan’s Osaka was playing at the Foro Italico for the first time in three years after taking a break from the tour to have her first child and is ranked at 173 in the world.

The furthest she has gone in any tournament so far this season was her run to the quarter-finals in Doha, which she could not replicate in the Italian capital.

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However it was a positive tournament for Osaka, who has never won a title on clay but beat a top-20 ranked player on the surface for the first time, against Marta Kostyuk in the second round on Thursday.

 “I think I’m happy with my performance in Rome. It’s been a while since I played well on – I guess I’ve never played well on clay – so I guess I’m happy,” Osaka told reporters. “I definitely feel a lot more confident leaving than when I came.”

Just before Osaka’s elimination, activists from climate group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) burst onto the Pietrangeli court where American Madison Keys was beating Sorana Cirstea, and on court 12 where a men’s doubles match was taking place.

Wearing orange vests, they threw a liquid and confetti onto the courts before being removed by security staff. After a half-hour stoppage to clean the court, Keys completed her win over Romania’s Cirstea 6-2, 6-1.

There were also protestors in the stands with a tournament spokesman telling AFP that at least one person had tried to glue their feet to the floor in order to slow their removal.

“Obviously it’s not the greatest feeling when you’re on court, your first reaction is kind of your own safety,” said Keys.

 “I think maybe banning cementing glue from bags would be a start.

 “It’s obviously something that’s becoming more of an occurrence and something that tournaments are going to have to figure out how to stop.

Former world number one Naomi Osaka said that she was looking at “a bigger picture” and not just results since returning to tennis late last year after giving birth.

The four-time major winner has not gone beyond the quarter-finals in six tournaments since her 15-month maternity break, with her latest match a third-round defeat to France’s Caroline Garcia at the Miami Open last month.

Osaka, whose world ranking has risen from 831 to 193 since her return, will play for Japan in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in Tokyo starting today.

The 26-year-old said she was encouraged by her form and had “played really good players the entire comeback”.

 “It’s really tough to look at it results-wise,” she said. “But I have to look at it in a bigger picture and try to expand on my game and expand on the knowledge that I’m constantly learning as a player.”

Osaka described her second-round win over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in Miami as “one of the better matches in my career, just in terms of execution”.

Osaka is appearing at the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time since 2020, after being asked to play by team captain Ai Sugiyama.

 “She’s just always felt very kind and genuine and I always really wanted to try, just to be better in team atmospheres as well,” said Osaka.

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It will be Osaka’s first appearance in Tokyo since she withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open in September 2022 before her second-round match.

The tie will take place at Ariake Coliseum, where Osaka reached the third round of the Olympics in 2021. She has said she wants to represent Japan at the Paris Games this year.

Kazakhstan will be without world number four Elena Rybakina, who lost to American Danielle Collins in the Miami Open final.

Osaka and Nao Hibino are Japan’s singles representatives and will take on Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Anna Dalinina.

The winners will advance to November’s finals in Spain.

Osaka said she wanted to show the Tokyo fans “something really exciting” to demonstrate how she has matured as a player.

“When I was younger, I tried a lot to hit a lot of crazy shots – now I’m a little bit more strategic,” she said. “I hope that it’s fun for everyone to watch, but I’m not going to do anything crazy.”