Naomi Osaka’s comeback season has been pocked by fits and starts as she reacquaints herself with her athleticism and competitive fire. She hasn’t played especially good tennis, but her body language, frequent smiles and playful interactions with fans indicate her state of mind is much better than it was when she walked away from the sport in 2021.
On a conference call to promote the upcoming U.S. Open in New York, 18-time major champion Chris Evert openly wondered whether Osaka can compete anywhere close to the level she established when she won the major in 2018 and 2020.
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“She’s going through some doubtful times,” Evert said. “We’ll see if she can get that magic, because it is the U.S. Open. She has won this title, so let’s see if she can get that magic going. I think her story, her journey, remains to be seen.”
A year after Osaka gave birth to her daughter and eight months into her return to competitive tennis, the 26-year-old who was born in Japan and raised on Long Island seems intent on enjoying the return to Flushing, regardless of the results. She participated in a recent summit in Queens on athletes’ mental health, and said her goal was to feel gratitude for the opportunities she’s had and to take it easy on herself.
“I know she has the game, but it takes more than the game,” Evert said. “It takes a lot of confidence and a lot of focus. We’ll see. She’s in a different part of her life right now where it seems she’s so calm and she’s so relaxed and happy and peaceful.
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“The mental problems haven’t really affected her. She has a child, which she is madly in love with. Sometimes when you are too happy, that can’t always be good either, I don’t know, for us to be intense and fierce.”
The perfectionism Osaka relentlessly sought en route to the No. 1 world ranking in 2019 is unrealistic at the moment, and she knows it. She has failed to advance past the quarterfinals at any tournament this year, most recently losing to Ashlyn Krueger in the second round of qualifying for the Cincinnati Open.
Osaka posted a frank assessment of her struggles on Instagram, writing, “My biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body. It’s a strange feeling, missing balls I shouldn’t miss, hitting balls softer than I remember I used to. I try to tell myself: ‘It’s fine, you’re doing great. Just get through this one and keep pushing,’ mentally it’s really draining though.”
“Internally, I hear myself screaming: ‘What the hell is happening?!’”
Earlier this year she described her struggles a different way, saying, “I kind of felt like I was driving a car that wasn’t mine. It’s kind of tough when you don’t see results as quickly.”
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Osaka is ranked No. 85 in the WTA, too low to qualify for the U.S. Open without being granted a wild-card entry into the singles main draw. She is one of eight women who received one.
Evert’s doubts about Osaka are a departure from comments she made in January 2023, when Osaka announced that she was pregnant.
“Naomi has shown us so much compassion and kindness during her career that I think that’s going to translate that into caring for another human being, I think she’s going to be an awesome mum,” Evert said. “I think it’s going to be very freeing for her, in the sense that she can now focus on a human being that is more important than anything else in the world.
“And she’s not just focusing on tennis, the pressures, the expectations, all the challenges that she faced before, the anxiety, I think having a child is the most freeing and the most loving act that can happen to you. It’s going to be very healthy and almost healing for her.”
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Evert’s prediction 20 months ago was prescient. Mentally, Osaka seems to be in a good place. It’s just the tennis that needs shoring up, and she says she’s on it.
“During this time, I’ve wondered what do I want out of this whole experience and I realized something,” Osaka wrote on Instagram. “I love the process (though the process doesn’t love me sometimes haha), putting in work every day and eventually having the opportunity to get to where you want to be.
“I know life isn’t guaranteed so I want to do the best that I can with the time that I have; I want to teach my daughter that she can achieve so many things with hard work and perseverance. I want her to aim for the stars and never think her dreams are too big.
“Nothing in life is promised but I realized that I can promise myself to work as hard as I can and give it my best shot ‘til the very end.
“See you in New York.”
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