‘Very much chill vibes’ Naomi Osaka enjoying her downtime after spirited run at the Miami Open
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Naomi Osaka
After torrid times on the court, Naomi Osaka is slowly finding her footing and showing glimpses of her past form which helped her win 4 Grand Slam titles. Osaka skipped the better half of last season citing mental health issues and her inactivity meant she dropped out of the top-80 of the WTA rankings.
Osaka started the season with a string of sub-par results, with her never finding the top gear at any tournament. And to further derail her comeback plans she was heckled by a spectator at the Indian Wells, which left her in tears during her second round exit against Veronika Kudermetova. But it has been a spectacular turnaround of fortunes for the former Word No.1 at the Miami Open. She reached her first final in more than a year and although it ended with a loss to newly crowned World No.1 Iga Swiatek, it was a positive result for Osaka.
Osaka seems to be in high spirits after a dream run in Miami. The Japanese star took to Twitter to post a picture of herself enjoying her downtime and captioned it “very much chill vibes.”
Naomi Osaka eyes ascent up the rankings during clay court season
Naomi Osaka is yet to announce her first tournament of the clay-court swing. After the Miami Open, Osaka admitted that she is no clay-court specialist but will be looking to fare better this time around in the red dirt.
“Like I’m clearly not a clay expert, but, you know, I feel like if I get my movement together, I should be pretty good. I grew up on green clay, being from here, so it shouldn’t be that foreign to me. And I know, you know, Madrid, Sabalenka won that last year, so I think that there is opportunities for me to do well, as well. I think I just have to get my mentality together to know that every match would be a fight,” Osaka said during her post-match presser.
Her last season on clay ended on a disappointing note after she withdrew from the French Open for not obliging to do mandatory media procedures. The 24-year-old will hope for it to be the contrast this time around. Osaka made up more than 40 places to climb to the 35th spot after her stellar run in Miami. The 4-time Grand Slam champion doesn’t have many points to defend this season and will be looking to make another ascent in the rankings. Osaka will also be hoping to improve on her third-round finish at the Roland Garros, her best result so far in the tournament.
Also read: “Maybe she had no motivation,” Karolina Pliskova reflects over the shock Ashleigh Barty retirement
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T Rushitha
(360 Articles Published)