Memories of US title ‘bittersweet’ for Osaka

Nearly a month after winning her maiden grand slam tennis title, Japan’s Naomi Osaka says she is still trying to move on from the ‘‘bittersweet’’ memory of that day in New York.

The 20-year-old Osaka’s win in the US Open final was marred by a row between her opponent Serena Williams and chair umpire Carlos Ramos, which saw the 23-time grand slam champion docked a game and fined US$17,000 (NZ$26,000).

Osaka was reduced to tears as she waited to be handed the trophy and an angry crowd at Flushing Meadows took out their frustration on Ramos.

‘‘The memory of the US Open is a little bittersweet,’’ Osaka said.

‘‘The day after, I didn’t want to think about it because it wasn’t necessarily the happiest memory for me. I wanted to move on at that point.’’

In an intriguing comparison, Osaka likened her memories of New York to eating green tea ice cream.

‘‘When you bite into it, it’s sweet but also strong. That’s how that memory feels . . . of course, I’m happy I won a grand slam. I don’t think there’s anything that can take away from that. But I don’t know.

‘‘I feel like not that when I look back on it that it’s a bad memory, but it was so strange, I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to push it to the side.’’

Osaka withdrew from last week’s Wuhan Open in China, hours after losing to former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova in the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo.

‘‘I was lucky Tokyo was so close [to the US Open] because I could immediately focus on the next tournament,’’ Osaka said.