OSAKA’S SURFACE TENSION
AUSTRALIAN Open champion Naomi Osaka doesn’t want to be a one-trick pony.
As the dust settles on her second Australian Open crown, the Japanese star has already turned her attention to overcoming what has been an achilles heel on her career.
Osaka proved with her second US Open win in September and her domination of American Jennifer Brady on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night that she is easily the best hardcourt player in the world.
But it’s her record on the grass at Wimbledon and clay of Roland Garros that is the only asterisk when it comes to declaring the 23-year-old as Serena Williams’ replacement as the boss of women’s tennis.
“That is the biggest goal. Everyone knows I can do well on hardcourts but for me I just want to really get comfortable on other surfaces,” Osaka said.
“That’s the key thing that, you know, I didn’t play juniors, so I didn’t grow up playing on grass at all.
“So I honestly think I’d have better luck on clay, because I think last year I didn’t play bad at all. It’s just something that I have to get more used to.”
All of Osaka’s seven career titles — four of those are grand slams — have been won on hardcourts where her record is 116 wins and 50 losses.
By comparison her record on clay is 18-14 and 11-9 on grass.
She has reached the third round of the French Open three times but never gone further while two thirdround appearances is her best effort at Wimbledon.
Osaka was beaten in the first round in her last visit to the All-England Club in 2019 by Yulia Putintseva when she went into the tournament as world No.1. Her second Australian Open title moved her to No.2 on the rankings behind Australia’s Ash Barty.
She said the lure of the top ranking won’t be a motivating factor.
“Honestly, I don’t really think about the ranking at all,” Osaka said. “I don’t play the most tournaments in the tour so I just want to do well in all of the tournaments that I play.
“My goal is to be consistent this year, not to have a huge drop off randomly in the middle section, like June, July, how I usually do. I don’t want to think too much about the rankings. It will come if I play well.”
Osaka’s demolition of 23-time grand slam winner Williams in the Australian Open semi-final was seen as a changing of the guard in the women’s game.
Former grand slam champion Mats Wilander has declared she could easily win 10 grand slams.
“I feel like it is an honour that I am in that conversation but I also feel like for me, my biggest goal is to be consistent throughout the year,” Osaka said. “And not randomly popping up and winning a grand slam. Hopefully I’ll be able to be more stable this year and feel more worthy of potentially having that title (as the best).”
But one goal which she is determined to fulfil is to be an idol to a young player on the tour.
“Hopefully I play long enough to play a girl that said that I was once her favourite player,” she said. “I think that’s the coolest thing that could ever happen to me.”