Naomi Osaka of Japan speaks to the media before the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 24, 2024 in New York City. Jamie Squire/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka is competing in the U.S. Open for the first time in two years and said Saturday that returning to the venue where she won two of her four Grand Slam titles is giving her a boost – but not because she’s focused on her past successes there.
No, Osaka explained, it was more about looking back even further, to the time when she came to New York as a child and came as a fan to see “all the famous players you can imagine,” like Rafael Nadal, Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.
“I think it helps me to come to this particular tournament. But when I come here, I also don’t really think about the two tournaments I won,” said the 26-year-old Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father; the family moved to New York when she was 3. “I just think about how I felt as a kid because I grew up here and have such vivid memories of watching my favorite players. It’s more of a childhood nostalgia that I really enjoy.”
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She won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and was formerly ranked No. 1 in the world. But after a combination of time off – first for mental health issues, then for the birth of a child – and mediocre results this season – she has a record of 18-15 in 2024 – Osaka is currently ranked 85th. On Tuesday, she will face No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, at Flushing Meadows.
During last year’s US Open, Osaka visited, watched a few tennis matches and appeared with Michael Phelps in a discussion about mental health.
After being eliminated from the Cincinnati Open qualifying round on hard court this month, Osaka posted on social media about how she is dealing with the losses and not fully understanding why she isn’t playing like she used to.
“My biggest problem right now isn’t the losses, it’s not feeling like I’m in my body. It feels weird to miss balls I shouldn’t miss, to hit balls that are softer than I used to. I try to tell myself, ‘It’s OK, you’re doing great, just get through it and keep going.’ Mentally, though, it’s really exhausting,” she wrote. “Inside, I hear myself screaming, ‘What… is going on?!?!'”
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She added: “The only feeling I can compare to now is after giving birth” and “I don’t understand why everything has to feel almost like new again.”
One problem has been that she has had difficulty changing surfaces recently, from the red clay at the French Open to the grass at Wimbledon, back to the clay at the Paris Olympics and now to the hard court.
Another reason was a lack of confidence, partly due to early exits: in the second round of the French Open against eventual champion Iga Swiatek, despite being just one point away from victory; in the second round of Wimbledon against Emma Navarro; in the first round of the Summer Olympics against three-time major winner Angelique Kerber.
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“I feel like I’ve had really tough matches all year and that’s affected my confidence a little bit,” Osaka said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve played bad tennis. I would just say I’ve played against really good players.”
The insightful posts she occasionally publishes on social media help to clarify one’s thoughts.
“It’s like speaking your words into the universe and then letting them go,” Osaka said. “After you see it, you’re basically free of the thoughts that confuse you.”
Now, she said on Saturday, she feels “much better” and is training “at a really high level.”
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“I hope,” Osaka said, “that I can also play games at a really high level.”
