Brady up against it with Osaka
MELBOURNE: Jennifer Brady spent two weeks in hard quarantine gathering mental strength for her tilt at a maiden Grand Slam title and will hope there is plenty in reserve when she takes on Naomi Osaka in today’s Australian Open final.
Brady likened quarantine to a long decompression session that probably helped her bulldoze through the draw against betterprepared players.
Now the rising 25yearold faces the ultimate test of her resilience against Osaka, who beat her in the US Open semifinals on the way to her third Grand Slam triumph.
‘‘I don’t know how I’m going to feel [today],’’ said the American.
‘‘I can say I can enjoy the moment and just try to play tennis and not really think too much about it, but there’s going to be moments, there’s going to be games, there’s going to be points where I’m going to be thinking about, ‘Wow, this could be my first Grand Slam title’.’’
The odds are against it though, with third seed Osaka rated a virtually unbackable favourite by bookmakers to raise a second Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at Rod Laver Arena today..
Brady, the 22nd seed, has shown grit to get this far, winning consecutive threeset matches against semifinalist Karolina Muchova and Jessica Pegula, but compared to Osaka’s tough draw the American has had an armchair ride.
Muchova, at 25th the highest seed Brady faced, cleared the roadblock of world number one Ash Barty, while giantkiller Pegula knocked out US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina.
Add that to the fact that Osaka is on a 20match winning streak and has never lost a Grand Slam final, it would seem Brady is up against it.
At 23, Osaka is fast developing the aura that helped Williams amass 23 Grand Slam titles.
Once prone to the occasional breakdown on court, Osaka has been all business at Melbourne Park and paid tribute to her coach Wim Fissette and team for helping her forge a stronger mental game.
The first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam title, Osaka said she wanted to pay her team back with another trophy.
‘‘Of course, it’s nice to see your name on a trophy or your name on a wall,’’ said Osaka, who holds a 20 record against Brady in WTA Tour events.
‘‘But I think bigger than that. I feel like I’m playing with a different purpose for this trip.
‘‘I just want to do really well as a vessel for everyone’s hard work.’’
After surviving match points in a tense fourth round clash with last year’s finalist Garbine Muguruza, the Japanese contender moved up a gear to thrash Taiwanese surprise package Hsieh Suwei before ending Williams’ bid for a 24th Grand Slam.
Justine Henin, a seventimes Grand Slam champion, said Osaka had taken a grip of the women’s game.
‘‘To me, women’s tennis has a new boss. Naomi Osaka has this capacity, she has taken another dimension,’’ Henin told Eurosport.
‘‘(She) is completely ready physically, mentally she showed that she is really strong. Naomi, for sure, will be the big favourite for this match.’’µ There may have been largely kind words between them before their Australian Open semifinal, but world No 1 Novak Djokovic did not miss out on the chance of throwing a little petrol on the Stefanos TsitsipasDaniil Medvedev rivalry ahead of their match last night.
Assessing yesterday's matchup which will determine who he plays him in tomorrow’s decider, Djokovic seemed happy enough to open some old wounds.
``I know that these two guys have a history between them on and off the court a little bit — so I'm sure there's going to be a lot of intensity,'' said Djokovic after qualifying for the final on Thursday with a straightsets win over Russian Aslan Karatsev.
``It's a great rivalry these guys have. I'm going to watch it and enjoy it.'' — Reuters/AAP