“Haven’t seen that in a very long time,” Naomi Osaka heaps praise on Carlos Alcaraz, eyes Rafael Nadal’s clay-court success for Madrid
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Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz Garfia has captivated the world. People were awestruck by the Spanish player’s meteoric rise in 2022. Some of the most well-known tennis celebrities in the world have praised the player. Naomi Osaka recently praised Carlos Alcaraz, a Spanish tennis player. Both players are expected to perform well in their respective categories on the tour.
“It’ll either go really good or really bad”- Naomi Osaka
For his recent exceptional performances, Carlos has received praises from former world no. 1 Naomi Osaka who said, “I feel like he’s genuinely made everyone excited about the ATP and I haven’t seen that in a very long time.” She is excited to see Carlos play and anticipates what he brings to the court.
Osaka also said, “I’m not even really thinking about his age, like every time someone brings up his age. I’m like, ‘Oh wow, I forget, that’s so cool’. I think just his game style, just how pumped he is. How I feel like I’m watching him learn with every tournament.” Naomi commended Carlos’s growth.
Naomi Osaka, who has won all four Grand Slam titles on hard courts, is looking forward to bringing her success to the red dirt this season. She spent a few days in Mallorca training for the clay-court season and says she had made some tweaks to her game after being inspired by 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal. “I think I stole one of the things that he did and I’ve been practising it recently,” Osaka said, referring to Nadal. It’ll either go really good or really bad. There’s like no in between. But I think as I’ve been doing it, it’s been going pretty well.”
“Honestly I’ve been wanting to watch the really good clay-court players practice because I feel like I’m the type of person that learns really fast if I see it up close and honestly it’s a bit of a waste to have all these really good professional tennis players and not watch them,” she added.
In the run-up to Roland Garros, Osaka, who says she expects to reach at least the semi-finals in Madrid or Rome, admits it was a challenging moment for her, but she chooses to consider it as a valuable learning experience. “I feel like there are a lot of moments in my career that are like extremely sad for me at the time but I kind of later look back on it and I think to myself, ‘Well that really made me grow as a person, and even though I really hated the experience, I’m glad it happened to me’,” she explained.
“For me that’s one of those moments. I wish it didn’t happen, but also I’m glad that it did. I feel like it prepared me for a lot of things that may or may not happen but it’s kind of like one of those things you have in your back pocket as experience,” the 4-times Grand Slam winner concluded.
Naomi Osaka is all set to compete in the Madrid Open
At the Madrid Open, Naomi Osaka will participate. She will use a wild card to gain admittance. Despite a shaky start to the season, the player’s performance has improved significantly. She also competed in the Miami Open 2022 finals against Iga Swiatek.
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