Naomi Osaka says she was ‘ungrateful’ in attitude to tennis over the past year
Naomi Osaka admitted that at times over the last year she felt ungrateful about her view that playing tennis on the world stage was not enough of an accomplishment in itself.
The world No 2 and second seed fought back from a set and a break down to beat American teenager Coco Gauff 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday. In the past year, Osaka has pulled out of the French Open and Wimbledon before she returned to her native Japan to light the flame at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, then lost in the third round of the women’s singles competition.
Reflecting on the past year and how her mindset has changed since then, Osaka said: “The choice to go out there and play, to go see fans, the people that are coming out and watching you play, that itself is an accomplishment and I’m not sure when along the way I started de-sensitising that. It started not being an accomplishment for me so I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact.
“I think definitely this whole Covid thing was really stressful with the bubbles and not seeing people and not having the interactions.
“But seeing the state of the world, how everything is in Haiti and Afghanistan right now, [it] is definitely really crazy and for me to just be hitting a tennis ball in the United States and have people come and watch me play.
I would want to be myself in this situation rather than anyone else in the world.”
On the match she added: “I feel like whenever I play here it’s definitely always very tough. I feel like we’re really lucky to have played in front of a crowd today and for there to be so many people and for them to be so engaged and energetic was definitely really exciting. Today I felt like the match was very serve-reliant. So I’m really happy that my first serve didn’t let me down.”
Andy Murray was, however, knocked out of the Cincinnati Masters in straight sets by the world No 13 Hubert Hurkacz. Murray, who had won the tournament twice, went into the match fresh from his first singles victory since withdrawing from the men’s singles event at the Olympics in the first round, only to fall 7-6 (4), 6-3 against the Pole.
In the opening round Murray had beaten the former world No 7 Richard Gasquet in straight sets, but he was unable to find the same momentum against the 24-year-old Hurkacz. It was a difficult match for Murray, with just 52% of his first serves accurate compared with 71% from Hurkacz.
The 34-year-old also made some uncharacteristic errors, including three double faults, although he did manage to save four out of six break points.
The tournament in Cincinnati was due to be a warm-up event after he was added to the US Open main draw via a wildcard. Despite the defeat, Murray was satisfied with his time in Cincinnati. “I thought this week was fairly positive,” Murray said. “I think I played much better this week than during Wimbledon or during the grass-court season.
“So I guess the two issues for me are one, my body doesn’t feel good and that is something that will influence my future; and if after competing for a number of months if my tennis is going backwards then that would be another sign for me that things are not how I would like them to be. But I don’t see this week as going backwards.
“My body felt good. The American hard courts are not easy on the body and physically I was a little bit tired after some of the longer rallies, but in terms of the pain and discomfort my body was really good.
“My tennis was better than at Wimbledon. It’s still not how I would like it but it’s difficult when you play against a lot of these guys now with big serves and you don’t get too many opportunities.
“That’s where the lack of matches can hurt you, because there’s not loads of rhythm out there, and you know you’re not going to get that many chances.
“A few years ago I would be taking those chances at the end of the first set and today I didn’t and it will cost you against the guys who are serving big because you don’t get too many opportunities.”
Meanwhile, the defending champion, Dominic Thiem, has withdrawn from the US Open and will miss the rest of the season. Thiem has failed to recover from a wrist injury sustained while contesting the Mallorca Open in June.
In a statement, the 27-year-old Austrian said: “Having spent a week training on court, I still felt pain in my wrist and I knew that it was not 100%. I went to see my doctors again and we have decided to follow a conservative treatment, giving the injury more time to recover.
“I’m very disappointed not to be able to defend my US Open title and to miss the rest of the season. But I know this is what I have to do. I have a long career ahead of me, so I will only come back once I’m fully recovered and in good shape to compete.”
Thiem won his maiden grand slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, coming from two sets down to beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final. However, he has struggled for form and fitness this year, going out in the first round of the French Open and missing Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.
He joins Roger Federer in pulling out of the US Open, with the 20-times grand slam champion opting to undergo knee surgery.