Naomi Osaka believes there are plenty of positives to be drawn from her performance at this year’s Italian Open after getting knocked out in the fourth round on Monday.
The four-time Grand Slam champion was denied a place in the last eight by seventh seed Qinwen Zheng who prevailed 6-2, 6-4. It was the first time Osaka had played a top 10 player since starting her comeback in January following the birth of her first child. During her latest match, she dropped serve four times and only managed to break Zheng once.
“I’m pretty happy that I was able to play this match because I will learn a lot from it. I’ll learn that the level’s not that different,” Osaka told reporters.
“It’s kind of just more key moments I would say, staying mentally very resilient in myself and my abilities.”
Despite her latest defeat, 26-year-old Osaka has enjoyed a breakthrough in Rome where she beat Daria Kasatkina and Marta Kostyuk earlier in the tournament. Those triumphs are her first wins over top 20 players on clay in her career.
“I think I definitely feel a lot more confident leaving than when I came,” she said.
“I hope that I can learn a lot from the match I played today and apply it and do really well in Paris (at the French Open).”
So far this year Osaka has won 11 out of 20 Tour-level matches played with Rome being the first tournament where she has recorded three consecutive wins. She also reached the quarter-finals of the Doha Open in February.
Due to her current ranking, the Japanese player will be undeeded at the French Open and could pose a big danger to the seeds if they are drawn against her in the early rounds. However, she has yet to go beyond the third round in Paris.
“I’m probably going to do a really solid training block again. That’s been working out for me, so hopefully it works out even more,” she said of her preparations for the event.
The French Open will begin on Sunday 26th May.
