Osaka: "For me, it is more fun to return to the court after a defeat"
The Japanese player faces the press after being defeated in the first round of Indian Wells 2025.
"It's the worst match I've ever played in my life," the Japanese said on social media minutes after leaving the court. After displaying a high level both in Auckland and Melbourne, Naomi Osaka's expectations were very high for the American tour, where she seemed to have recovered physically, but nothing could be further from the truth. Although the Japanese player has not suffered from those issues, inconsistency is creeping into her tennis, leading to an early loss in the first round of Indian Wells 2025, which comes as a new blow for the player.
"First of all, I'm not injured. I feel very good, which I guess is positive. Secondly, it feels very strange, because I think I did well in Australia. It's like starting over again. It would have been very helpful to play more matches in this tournament, but obviously I couldn't. The same thing happened today with my tennis. There were things that didn't go well because I could only start training the serve after some time and things like that. Given the circumstances, it hasn't been so terrible, but I would have liked to win and continue playing in the tournament."
Tournament Formats
"For me, it's more fun to return to the court after a loss because I feel like I have learned a lot from it and I'm eager to apply it, but I have grown up with tennis having the same tournament structure all the time. It would be interesting if it changed, but I don't know. I've gotten used to it a lot."
A Setback in the Journey
"I would say the hardest part is feeling like I could have done very well at the Australian Open, and then having to return to training and try to strengthen myself for tournaments like this one, and not doing well here. It sucks, but I feel like I'm also used to it since last season. When I think about last year, I feel completely fine now because it's like a small bump in the road. I will go back to Miami and hope to have more serve practice and things like that."
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Osaka: "Para mí es más divertido volver a la pista después de una derrota"