Osaka eases back into action with a winning smile
The Australian Open started yesterday without nine-time champion Novak Djokovic and finally the focus was on forehands and backhands instead of his fight to avoid deportation because he isn’t vaccinated against Covid-19.
And it got started in a big way, with a combined 64 matches scheduled on Day 1 in both men’s and women’s brackets.
Naomi Osaka started her title defence by winning the first five games on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Camila Osorio in the second match on the tournament’s main court.
With so much attention on the 11-day saga of Djokovic’s attempt to participate in the year’s first Grand Slam and bid for a fourth consecutive title in Melbourne, Osaka’s return to action has been overshadowed.
After winning her second Australian Open title in three years in 2021, the four-time major winner pulled out of the French Open before the second round, then sat out Wimbledon.
She played at the Tokyo Olympics, where she lit the cauldron, but ended her season early after a third-round loss and a teary news conference at the US Open.
Two of her goals for 2022, she said last week, were to stay completely composed on the court and off, and enjoy the game.
A smile when she completely whiffed an overhead to give Osorio a break-point chance in the seventh game maybe was a sign of the new approach. She dropped that service game but recovered quickly.
“It just feels really nice to start the year with this tournament,” Osaka said in a post-match, on-court interview. “I thought I played really well given the circumstances.”
Fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari started the programme on the main court at Melbourne Park with a 6-4, 7-6 (2) win over Tatjana Maria.
“I was a little bit stressed because I was opening up this tournament on this wonderful court. It’s a privilege,” Sakkari said. “I’m very glad that I was able to find a way to win and to keep myself in the tournament.”
In other early results on Day 1 of the first major tennis tournament of 2022, Tokyo Olympic Games gold medallist Belinda Bencic beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-3, and 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina got past Fiona Ferro 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Bencic will next meet Amanda Anisimova, who beat qualifier Arianne Hartono 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Anisimova, a 20-year-old American who is coming off a title in a tuneup event held at Melbourne Park the first week of January, described what went on with Djokovic as “a very messy situation”.
“It’s very complicated,” Anisimova said. “So, I mean, you can take either side . . . It’s honestly very sad that it had to end that way.”
No 30 Camila Giorgi had a 6-4, 6-0 win over Anastasia Potapova.
● On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal renewed his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam singles title with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over American Marcos Giron.
Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic are tied with 20 major singles titles each. Federer is not playing due to his lengthy recovery from right knee surgery, and nine-time champion Djokovic was deported from Australia on Sunday due to problems with his visa, his Covid-19 vaccination status and a court hearing which didn’t go his way.
Nadal is also bidding to become the second man in the Open Era — and only the fourth man — to win each of the four Grand Slam singles titles twice. Djokovic completed the double by winning his second title at Roland Garros in 2021.
Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver are the only other men to have won each Grand Slam on two or more occasions.