Former World No. 1 and 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka will return to action in San Jose at the 2022 Silicon Valley Classic, her first tournament since her exit from the 2022 French Open. Osaka had skipped the 2022 Wimbledon Championships as no points were up for grabs and with her Achilles also hurt, the Grand Slam provided a good 2-weeks’ time to recover and be fully fit.
With the hardcourt leg starting once again, Osaka looks to be a Tour regular once again and improve her ranking as she is currently ranked 41st in the world. With her absence from the Tour due to her mental health problems and fitness issues, Osaka had almost left the Top-100 but with some decent results, she is back in Top-50 and has her eyes set on improving further.
“There were no bad things happening”: Naomi Osaka on her coaching split
While Osaka was recovering from her injuries, the Japanese split from her coach Wim Fissette. The Belgian joined Naomi just before the 2020 season and helped her to the 2020 US Open and 2021 Australian Open titles along with rising to World No. 1 rank as well as Osaka became one of the biggest players on the Tour.
“It was really good times with Wim and he’s a really amazing coach. We didn’t part on bad terms. I just felt I needed different energy, and at the same time, he’s a very ambitious guy. I was getting injured and I’m sure he would have wanted to go to Wimbledon. So it was two different mindsets, I would say. But he’s a really cool guy still. So confirming that there were no bad things happening.
“I wanted to bring my dad back because he always makes me think outside the box. Whenever I think something is really bad he always makes me realize that things are much more positive than they seem. For right now, he would be my main coach. I would give him that title,” said Osaka speaking on Media Day at San Jose ahead of her first-round match with Qinwen Zheng.
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