Naomi Osaka opened her US Open campaign with a convincing victory over World #10 Jelena Ostapenko. In just over an hour she eliminated the Latvian 6-3 6-2 to confirm her first victory in New York since 2021.
Naomi Osaka at the US Open
Despite her ranking of #88, Naomi Osaka is one of the tournament’s main stories. She is a superstar not only on the tennis court but across the wider world. In 2022 she was comfortably the highest paid woman athlete at $52 million. To put this in perspective, this was a season she dropped as low as #85 in the rankings, was riddled with injuries, and won just two Grand Slam matches.
Her influence is unmatched.
On the tennis court, it’s been quite a time since she won back-to-back Slams at the end of 2020 creeping into 2021. Since then she has had a child and has learned the challenges of being a mother on tour. What can be a struggle to balance for many, proved the catalyst for her comeback this season. She spoke to the Guardian, saying, “It forced me to see life in a different way. I know a lot of people probably think I retired in that year but it just made me a lot more grateful for the sport and, in turn, made me just know there’s so many possibilities outside tennis and I realised I would still love to play tennis.”
A Return to the Summit
It’s been a road of ups and downs for Osaka. There have been disappointments, she has seemed at a loss at times, but one thing is clear, the talent is still there.
Her clash earlier in the season with Iga Swiatek proved as much. Swiatek had to save match points to advance to the third round, in the match of the season so far. For large periods of the match, Osaka was unplayable. She took the racket out of the world #1’s hand time and time again. On a court where Swiatek has been unplayable for the rest of the tour, Osaka showed her a-game is still as good as anyone’s. It makes you wonder what the picture may look like if they were to meet on the Arthur-Ashe stadium.
Since then though, she has struggled. At Wimbledon she exited early at the hands of Emma Navarro meanwhile a second round loss at the National Bank Open plus losing to Ashlyn Kreuger in Cincinnati qualifying means that she has struggled to pick up momentum.
This will have been a tough pill to swallow. Osaka will have been targeting the American hard court swing as her period of redemption. To have been struggling on her favoured surface may have alarmed her.
Terrific Opening Performance
You get the feeling that both players would have preferred a different opening round draw. With Jelena Ostapenko, you can never be certain what you will get. Her aggressive game style is riddled with inconsistencies, but if you catch her on a strong day, it’s an uphill battle.
The opening started with little to split the two. Unsurprisingly it was filled with big hitting, and winners were a plenty. Although, when Osaka got that first break, she never looked back. She looked a much stronger player than the one who had struggled just weeks before. She was hitting the ball with more conviction, moving better and seemed to be enjoying herself more.
In the second set, it was much of the same. Ostapenko found her range sporadically but largely it was rash from her. She hit twenty-one unforced errors throughout the tie, and before you knew it Osaka was a break up. The twenty-six year old’s return game was loose at times but she continued to strike well and closed out the second set 6-2.
After-Match Thoughts
Osaka was in tears after victory. She spoke after the match, as the Athletic reported, explaining her thoughts. She said, “It was a combination of a lot of different things. I grew up here, so just seeing kids, and then remembering my daughter, but also seeing kids coming and watching me play… And just remembering that I was a kid, I guess a long time ago, made me very emotional.”
How far can she go?
Her prospects lie with what version of herself turns up. She has been inconsistent this season, so to read too much into one match would be foolish. Although, we can still say that the four-time hard court Grand Slam Champion is a serious contender.
Last year’s semifinalist Karolina Muchova is next up after defeating Katie Volynets in straight sets. This will be a different challenge, the Czech is much more consistent than Ostapenko and owns a much craftier game.
Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
