I hope Kobe’s proud of me
Bryant was inspiration behind Osaka’s stunning comeback
NAOMI OSAKA completed a stunning comeback to win her third Grand Slam title then dedicated it to her friend and mentor Kobe Bryant.
The 22-year-old from Japan was comprehensively outplayed by Victoria Azarenka in the first set but recovered brilliantly to triumph 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the US Open Final in New York.
She revealed she had been driven on by the memory of basketball superstar Bryant, who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in January.
Osaka said: “I feel like at this point there are certain things that I do that I hope can make him proud. It’s about keeping his legacy alive for me.
“I think it’s amazing how one person can inspire so many people and I just want to be the type of person that he thought I was going to be.
“He thought I was going to be great so hopefully I will be great in the future.”
Many people would argue
Osaka is great right now and the way she turned around a match that looked to have got away from her was hugely impressive.
Osaka lost the first set in just 27 minutes and she was a point away from being 3-0 down in the second. Then she he slowly began to play the contest st on her terms and d survived a late e wobble when n Azarenka fought t back from 4-1 to o 4- 3 i n the e deciding set.
Asked how she turned the match around, she said: “I just thought it would be very embarrassing to lose in under an hour so I just have to try and stop having a really bad attitude.” After her moment of victory, Osaka lay on the court soaking in her achievement. She said: “I was thinking about all the times I’ve watched the great players collapsec onto the gground and look uup into the sky. “I ’ ve always wwanted to see wwhat they saw. It wwas j ust an uunb e l i e v a b l e mmoment for me anand I’m really glad I ddid it.”