“Kept tabs on him,” Naomi Osaka admits to tracking Jannik Sinner’s success as the excitement of beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open gets real

Naomi Osaka impressed with Jannik Sinner's run at the 2024 Australian Open.

“Kept tabs on him,” Naomi Osaka admits to tracking Jannik Sinner’s success as the excitement of beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open gets real

Jannik Sinner and Naomi Osaka (Via Imago)

Naomi Osaka, the tennis powerhouse, recently hailed the Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner for his remarkable journey to the top. Admitting to keeping an eye on the Italian, she lauds him for being so identifiable in a different way.

22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner never had a deep run in a Grand Slam. Having only reached the quarter-finals on a couple of occasions, the youngster had outdone himself by beating Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals and making it to the next stage.

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In his first Grand Slam semi-finals, he was up against an unbeaten player in the Australian Open semifinals, Novak Djokovic. Hitting this statistic out of the park, the Italian convincingly thrashed the World No.1 in four sets. Following this, he came back from down two sets to beat Daniil Medvedev in the finals, becoming the first Italian in the Open Era to achieve this feat. 

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Lauding Sinner for his performance was Naomi Osaka, who also admitted to keeping track of him. 

Actually, before the Australian Open started, I was talking to Wim [her coach] about Sinner, so I feel like in a way we both kept tabs on him. Honestly, it was really exciting to watch.
said Osaka to the National News

Naomi Osaka impressed with Jannik Sinner for standing out of the crowd

Jannik Sinner had always been a unique personality on the court. From eating carrots instead of bananas to not showing his anger at all, he has naturally been a standout. 

Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner with Carota boys (Via ATP tour)

Seconding on this is Naomi Osaka, who found it cool how Sinner stood out from the crowd with his fans. Referring to the Carota Boys, the Japanese star found Sinner as unique from a marketing standpoint. Sinner has withdrawn from Marseille and is expected to return to action in Rotterdam.

From a marketing standpoint, it’s really cool how he’s able to separate himself and kind of, with the carrot and everything.
Osaka

On her part, the former WTA No.1 recently experienced another first-round loss at the Abu Dhabi Open. Returning on tour, Osaka is en route to getting back her top spot. However, she faced a couple of setbacks in the Australian Open leg and continued to face early exits as she lost in the Abu Dhabi Open. Osaka lost to American Danielle Collins in straight sets. With plenty of tournaments left, the Japanese will aim to increase her ranking before the next Slam.

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