Beaten Osaka says she’s judging success differently, for now

The former world No 1 says she’s proud of how much effort she is putting in, even if the results are taking time to come

Zuma / Panoramic

Simon Cambers

March 12, 2024

When Naomi Osaka was riding high in the first stage of her career, she judged success by the number of titles she won, particularly Grand Slams. She won four of them and was ranked No 1.

On her return from a break to have her first child, the Japanese is seeing things a little differently, for now at least. Since returning in January, her comeback has not been as successful as she had hoped so far – she was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Elise Mertens in the third round of Indian Wells on Monday – but despite the disappointment of defeat, Osaka said there were reasons to be optimistic.

“I wanted to win more slams; that’s why I came back,” she told reporters. “But I think I determine success right now just by the effort that I put in, and I feel like today I don’t think I played well at all, but I tried every point.

“I think, like, before I was pregnant, there were a couple of matches that I didn’t try as hard as I tried today, and I feel like I can walk off the court knowing that, although I’m sad about the loss, I know that I tried every possible way to get back in the match. I guess that’s how I determine success right now.”

Air Naomi 🔥@naomiosaka | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/PtXDAFnLnK
— wta (@WTA) March 11, 2024

Patches of brilliance

Osaka hit seven aces and crunched plenty of big forehands but Mertens exposed her movement, which is not yet back to its very best, to the backhand side and kept her nerve to clinch victory. For Osaka, there are positive signs in terms of her form.

“I definitely feel like there’s improvement,” Osaka said. “The match I played before this one (Liudmila Samsonova), I guess I beat the highest-ranked person I’ve played so far, so I’m happy about that.

“But I’m just trying not to be too hard on myself right now, but I feel like in some ways I improved a lot from Doha. I think I fought a lot harder or I tried to fight a lot harder and find solutions to problems that were in front of me.

“But clearly it didn’t work out too well, so I hope that the more matches I play, the more I can find solutions.

Wins more precious

Osaka said she is also enjoying her victories more than in the past, even if defeats still hurt.

“I think my feelings have changed a lot,” she said. “I definitely take wins not for granted anymore. I think I appreciate them a lot and I know how hard I worked to get to this position, and I also know that while I was pregnant last year, that my opponents were playing the entire time.

“Definitely more grateful for wins, and unfortunately losses still make me as sad as they did before.”