Osaka: ‘I think I’m OK’

Naomi Osaka cracked jokes at Roland Garros on Friday — and, yes, laughed at those jokes. She smiledaftersomereporters’questions.shepausedtocontemplate, before offering answers.

Allofwhichseemedtoconfirm this assessment that she offered during an 18-minute pre-tournament French Open news conference, one year after she declared she would avoid talking to the press and then withdrew before the second round: “For the most part, I think I’m OK.”

Osaka used those words at the conclusion of a lengthy and thoughtful reply about what it was like to come back to a place where her last trip was so much more about her well-being and off-courtmindsetthanhertennis. Which is saying something when thesubjectisaplayerwhoalready owns four Grand Slam titles and has been ranked No. 1.

“I’m not going to lie. When I first came here, I was very worried.iwasjustkindofworried if there would be people that -- of course, I also didn’t like how I handled the situation — but I was worried that there were people that I offended some way, and I would just kind of bump into them,” Osaka said Friday.