Naomi’s a remarkable talent with a story to match
SOMEONE else who can’t lose at the latter stages of grand slams is Naomi Osaka. The Australian Open is grandslam victory No.4 and she has never lost a match from the quarter-finals onwards at one of the four major tournaments. Osaka hasn’t been beaten in a completed match in a whole year.
The rankings say Osaka is world No.2 but with the greatest respect to the world No.1 Ash Barty, Osaka is clearly the player to beat. Oddly, she has never advanced beyond round three of the
French Open or Wimbledon. On grass this may be understandable because there is only a narrow window of play on the surface in the calendar but she is highly suited to clay and grew up in Florida playing on the American variety, which has slightly different characteristics than the red version.
Osaka was way too good for American Jennifer Brady in the final. The 25-yearold former UCLA player was the last of the 72 14-day quarantiners standing and had the advantage of adjoining rooms in the quarantine hotel with her trainer Daniel Pohl.
Osaka has the sporting world at her feet, she is already the world’s most marketable female athlete and it is not hard to see why. Firstly, she is winning everything but secondly her background is fascinating.
At a time when the world is acutely identity-aware, along comes a young woman with a Japanese mother, and an Haitian father who grew up in the US. She now represents Japan and is hoping to be at the Olympics in Tokyo. Her greatest attribute seems to be her serenity under pressure. You might remember her US Open final of 2018 against a very upset Serena Williams, Osaka just got on with the job, winning in straight sets and looking mildly bemused as 20,000 people, including Serena, lost the plot. Not since Monica Seles in 1991 has a woman won her first four grand-slam finals. Osaka appears to be a match player of the same calibre and for me there is no higher praise.