“Does he want to play nine sets” Naomi Osaka dismisses ‘funny guy’ Stefanos Tsitsipas’ suggestion of women also playing Best-of-5 in Grand Slams
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Naomi Osaka and Stefanos Tsitsipas
4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is finally looking like the Naomi everyone knows as she moves into the quarter-finals of the 2022 Miami Open. Having slumped to World No. 77 in the rankings due to a long absence and poor results in the last season, the Japanese international looks to have sorted her business as the season progresses ahead.
Having defeated Alison Riske in the 4th round to move into the last-8 without dropping a single set, Osaka was also asked by the reporters about her take on the recent suggestion put forth by Stefanos Tsitsipas where the Greek suggested that since women players are paid equally and are believed to have the same stamina as men, they should also play best-of-5 sets in Grand Slams.
While Stef said it upfront of not wanting to start a controversy with his comments, he has nevertheless started a conversation about whether Grand Slams should make Best-of-5 for women as well. While the suggestion has met more criticism than support, even Naomi was not in favour of making such a massive change in the format of majors.
“Does he want to play nine sets? If he tries to extend mine, I’m going to extend his (smiling). Wait. He was asked that question or he just brought it up? This guy is so funny, man (smiling). I don’t know. I feel like that would change the structure of tennis. Like people will start doing things differently in the gym and stuff like that. It will probably also get a very long time to be implemented, but you’re also, like, a man is talking about a woman’s sport, so I don’t think his idea is going to go through,” said Naomi in her press conference.
2 out of 4 major wins of Naomi Osaka came in 3-sets
So far, Naomi has won 4 majors, two at the US Open (2018, 2020) and two at the Australian Open (2019,2021). Of these, two of her wins were straight-set wins in the finals while the other two went into the deciding 3rd-set.
At the 2018 US Open, Naomi beat Serena Williams in straight-sets to capture her maiden Grand Slam title in her shot-to-fame season but had to overcome Petra Kvitova in 3-sets in the 2019 Australian Open finals a few months later. The pattern reversed for her next two majors as she won the 2020 US Open defeating Victoria Azarenka in 3-sets before overcoming Jennifer Brady in straight-sets in the 2021 Australian Open to win her 4th and so far the last major to make it a 100% winning rate in Grand Slam finals.
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Sarthak Shitole
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