Naomi’s winning recipe
NAOMI OSAKA attributed her composure during a wild first Grand Slam final partly to her sister’s taste in bakery products. The 20-year-old became Japan’s first Grand Slam singles champion after a meltdown from Serena Williams that saw her penalised a game. While Williams yelled at umpire Carlos Ramos for earlier docking her a point, Osaka kept her head and came away with a straight-sets victory. She did not waver serving for the first set nor for the match and time and again drew the error from Williams, who was appearing in her 31st Grand Slam final.
Osaka revealed she was not quite coolness personified, though, saying: “I woke up and I was sweating. I was so nervous. My heart was racing the entire day. I think that wasn’t good for my health.
“I couldn’t eat anything, I felt like I was going to throw up. I was just so stressed and I kept calling my sister, my poor sister. She was telling me to think of it as just another match and then I would yell at her, ‘Are you crazy? This is a Grand Slam final’. Since she’s in Paris, she was showing me these random croissants and baguettes to try to take my mind off of it, and it kind of worked.”
Osaka’s sister Mari is also a tennis player and they were coached by their father after he decided to try to copy Richard Williams’ remarkable success with his daughters.
Osaka’s father, Leonard Francois, gets so nervous he cannot watch his daughter in action, but she credits him for her big-match mentality. She said: “Ever since I was little he’s always been telling me these wise words but I’ve never really wanted to listen. I think that as I grew up I sort of appreciated what he was saying more.”
Osaka grew up idolising Williams – and insisted what happened on Saturday would not change that, even though the shine was taken off her big moment.
With this victory she has positioned herself as the next big hope to succeed Williams as the dominant force in women’s tennis. Osaka will break into the top 10 for the first time and could one day find herself in the position of facing an up-and-comer who wrote a school project about how they wanted to be like her, as she did for Williams.
“It’s a little bit crazy,” she said. “Growing up and watching people you idolise, you always dream that one day you’ll be in that position. So to be in that position right now, I feel like I’m a big kid that doesn’t really understand how the world works.”
One thing that is certain is that Osaka’s stock around the world, but particularly in Japan, will skyrocket. She will now head to Tokyo ahead of the Pan Pacific Open, beginning a week tomorrow, and it is likely to be some homecoming for a player born in Japan and raised in the United States.