Despite the various accolades Naomi Osaka has already achieved in her career, there remains one surface which she is yet to conquer – the clay.
Still only 23, the Japanese star has already won both the US Open and Australian Open twice, as well as becoming the first Asian player in history to reach No.1 in the world. Overall she has featured in 10 WTA finals and has won seven of them with all of those occurring on a hard court. She had been on a 23-match winning streak before losing to Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open earlier this year.
Osaka’s focus now turns to the clay and in particular Madrid where she will play her first tournament on the surface this season. It has been almost two years since she last played a WTA event on the clay at the 2019 French Open where she lost in the third round.
“I feel for me it’s exciting to go into the clay court swing because I haven’t won a tournament on clay yet,” she told reporters ahead of the Madrid Open. “Even though that does make me a bit excited, it also gives me a bit of, like, stress because I really want to do well here.’
“I think I was just preparing for anything.”
In the past there has been numerous theories as to why the world No.2 is yet to excel on the clay. In Osaka’s view she believes a key aspect is related to the mental side of the game. She is coached on the Tour Wim Fissette who has also previously worked with the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber.
“I think for me, I do better when I don’t stress myself out and tell myself that I have to win a tournament. But it’s really hard to fight that feeling when you really want something,” she said.
“At the end of the day, I haven’t played a clay tournament in, like, two years. I haven’t touched clay in two years either, so… I’m just going in here (Madrid) just trying to have fun and trying to build match play for the French (Open).”
In one respect the conditions in Madrid do favour Osaka’s game style. The city has an elevation of more than 600 meters above sea level which means the high altitude makes the ball travel faster compared to other clay events. Osaka has played in the tournament on three previous occasions with her best run being to the quarter-finals in 2019.
“I can’t remember how I felt the last time I was here playing. But I do know that I think I’m hitting the ball pretty well,” she commented.
“I can only hope that for now that’s good enough. Maybe when I play my matches I’ll be able to adjust a lot better. As of right now, I don’t really have that much experience to be able to tell what’s good on clay and what’s not good on clay.”
Seeded second in Madrid this year, Osaka will start her campaign against either a qualifier or lucky loser.
