AFTER competing in WTA Tour qualifying for the first time since 2018 at the Cincinnati Open, former world number one Naomi Osaka was candid about her feelings after almost eight months back from maternity leave.
Osaka defeated Anna Blinkova in her opening qualifying match before losing to 20-year-old American Ashlyn Krueger in the qualifying final, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, to prevent the Japanese player from reaching the main draw of the WTA 1000 event.
According to the WTA website, the four-time Grand Slam champion has a win-loss record of 18-15 in 2024 so far, and is ranked 90th in the WTA rankings. She reached the Top 100 in late July after starting her comeback in January at world number 800.
With a resume like hers, Osaka has acknowledged her lofty aspirations for the second half of her career — but the journey there
achievement is not easy.
“My biggest problem right now is not losing, my biggest problem is that I don’t feel in my body,” Osaka said on Wednesday (14/8).
“It was a weird feeling, missing balls I shouldn’t have missed, hitting balls softer than I remembered. I was trying to tell myself, ‘It’s OK, you did a good job. Just get through this one and keep going.’ Mentally, it was really draining.”
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“Internally, I heard myself screaming, ‘What is happening?!?!'” he continued.
Osaka, who gave birth to her daughter Shai in July last year, said she had played some matches this year feeling like herself.
However, she likened the feeling of uncertainty and inconsistency from game to game to the new postpartum feelings — an honest perspective she has expressed more than once in her comeback season so far.
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“It scares (me) because I’ve been playing tennis since I was 3 years old, a tennis racket is supposed to feel like an extension of my arm,” Osaka said.
“I don’t understand why everything has to feel like new again. To me, it should be as simple as breathing, but it’s actually
no and I really didn’t appreciate that fact until now,” he added.
But despite the ups and downs, Osaka kept her perspective, ending her post on an optimistic note as she looks ahead to the United States (US) Open, a tournament she has won twice.
Read also: Knocked out of Wimbledon, Naomi Osaka shifts focus to 2024 Paris Olympics
“All this time, I was wondering what I wanted out of this whole experience and I realized something,” Osaka said.
“I love the process (even though sometimes I don’t love the process haha), working every day and ultimately having the opportunity to achieve the goals you want.”
“I know there are no guarantees in life so I want to do the best I can with the time I have; I want to teach my daughter that she can achieve a lot with hard work and perseverance. I want her to reach for her dreams and never think her dreams are too big.”
“Nothing in life is promised, but I realized that I can promise myself to work hard.
as hard as I can and give my best until the end,” he concluded. (Ant/Z-1)
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