“People used to say win the tournament, now they say have fun” Naomi Osaka opens up on the changes since she took a hiatus last season


“People used to say win the tournament, now they say have fun” Naomi Osaka opens up on the changes since she took a hiatus last season

Naomi Osaka

World No. 78 Naomi Osaka is currently preparing for her first match at the 2022 Indian Wells Open where she is looking to capture her first title of the season and second of the tournament having previously won the 2018 edition which was also the first-ever WTA title of her career that saw her stamp her arrival on the Tour.

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Naomi last played on the Tour at the 2022 Australian Open where she lost in the 3rd round to Amanda Anisimova failing to defend her title and move out of the top-50 ranks. She had earlier started her season at the Melbourne Summer Set where she reached the semi-finals but withdrew her name before the match as she faced difficulties in her body due to playing after a long break.

As she now plans to resume her Tour fully, the 24-year old talked about how things have changed since the last season when she announced her battles with mental health and took a break from the Tour withdrawing her name from the 2021 French Open despite having won her first-round match. Naomi had received support from former and current players for starting the conversation of mental health and highlighting why the athletes need to be mentally fresh every time and what are the occupational hazards of being a global icon.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m at peace with myself. I think that’s a great feeling to have as a person. I was watching the qualifying matches the other day, and when I was walking around the tournament, people were like, ‘Win the tournament, I have tickets to the final.’ Now people were like, “I hope you have fun.” I know it’s not a big change, but it means a lot to me,” said Osaka as reported by welovetennis.fr, ahead of her match in Indian Wells.

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Naomi Osaka to start against Sloane Stephens

Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka

Osaka’s rank earlier meant that the player would require a wildcard to skip the qualifiers and enter the main-draw. However, with a few withdrawals by higher-ranked players, Naomi qualified into the main-draw automatically. She will start her campaign in Indian Wells this season against former US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

This will be the third meeting between the two former US Open champions and Naomi will be looking to finally register her first win against her American counterpart who emerged victorious in both of their previous meetings. While Naomi comes into the match from a defeat in the Grand Slam in January, Sloane last played and won the finals in Guadalajara and will be high on confidence.

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