Naomi Osaka is at the US Open to compete for the first time in two years, and she said Saturday that returning to two of her four Grand Slam titles gives her a boost, but not because she’s focused on her successes beyond that. .
No, Osaka explained, it’s more about going back further, to the days when she was a kid in New York City and came here as a fan to see “every outstanding player you can name,” like Rafael Nadal, Serena and Venus. . Williams and Maria Sharapova.
“I think coming to this express tournament is helping me. But also, every time I set foot here, I don’t think about the two tournaments I won,” said Osaka, 26, born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father; Her family moved to New York when she was three years old. “I just think about how I felt as a kid, because I grew up coming here and I have very bright memories of watching my favorite players. It’s more of a nostalgia for the formative years that I appreciate.
He won the United States Open in 2018 and 2020, the Australia Open in 2019 and 2021, and was once ranked No. 1. But after a mix of casualties, first for reasons of intellectual aptitude, then because she gave birth, and so on. this season (she will be between 18 and 15 years old in 2024), Osaka is ranked 85th lately. She will face No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 France Open champion, on Tuesday at Flushing Meadows.
During last year’s US Open, Osaka visited, watched tennis and participated with Michael Phelps in a program on intellectual health.
After being eliminated in hard-court qualifying for the Cincinnati Open this month, Osaka posted on social media that she had dealt with the losses and didn’t understand why she wasn’t playing like she used to.
“However, my biggest challenge at the moment is not defeats; My biggest challenge is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body. It’s a strange feeling, missing balls that I shouldn’t miss, hitting balls softer than I remember. “I look to myself, ‘Okay, you’re doing great, get through this and keep trying. ‘But mentally it’s exhausting,” he wrote. Internally, I hear myself screaming, ‘What’s going on?’?!?!’
She added that “the only feeling I can compare with the one I’m feeling now is postpartum” and “I don’t perceive why everything has to be almost new again. “
One of the upheavals he’s had is all the surface adjustments lately, from the red clay of Roland Garros to the grass of Wimbledon to the clay of the Paris Olympics and now on the hard courts.
Another challenge is a lack of self-confidence, something that happened in part because of early eliminations: in the second round of the France Open against eventual champion Iga Swiatek, even after coming within a point of victory; in the second Wimbledon circular against Emma Navarro; in the first round of the Summer Games against three-time primary champion Angelique Kerber.
“I feel like I’ve had some really tough matches this year, and that’s taken a toll on my confidence,” Osaka said. “I wouldn’t say I played bad tennis. I would just say I played unlike some really smart players.
The kind of revelation he shares from time to time on social media helps explain the thinking.
“It’s like communicating your words to the universe and letting them go,” Osaka said. “After seeing it, you free yourself from the mind that clouds your mind. “
Now, he said Saturday, he feels “much better” and is “at a very high level. “
“I hope,” Osaka said, “to be able to play matches at the highest level. “