Naomi Osaka says she needs to continue playing against top players to relearn how to cope with certain situations during matches after crashing out of the Olympic Games.
The four-time Grand Slam champion suffered a 7-5, 6-3, loss to Germany’s Angelique Kerber who is playing in the final tournament of her career. Osaka started the match off in positive fashion by racing out to a 3-1 lead before getting broken in four out of her next eight service games. She has now only won back-to-back matches in one out of her last five tournaments played.
“I thought I started really well, and, I don’t know, I feel like my serve could have been a lot better.” The Olympic Information Service (OIS) quoted the 26-year-old as saying.
“When I was practicing, I felt the same way as well, but I feel that’s never an excuse to lose.”
Osaka had high expectations heading into the Olympic tennis event after achieving a series of solid results earlier this year on the clay. At the Italian Open, she beat two top 20 players to reach the fourth round before losing to China’s Qinwen Zheng. Then at the French Open, which is where the Olympic tennis event is being held, she was the only player to take a set off Iga Swiatek when they clashed in the second round.
Despite those results, the Japanese player still didn’t feel as much press in Paris compared to Tokyo three years ago. In Tokyo, she was one of the headline acts of the Games after lighting the Olympic cauldron.
“It’s weird. I definitely felt more pressure during Tokyo but I also felt like my match (at the French Open) with Iga Swiatek was so good that I really believed I could do better,” she said.
“So I wouldn’t call it pressure, just more belief in myself in clay, which is new for me, but also was something that I was very happy with.”
As to what is next ahead for Osaka, she believes her level is there but in her words, she needs to ‘learn how to win.’
“I really felt like I was playing well (against Kerber) and I think from there, I just need to learn how to win. And maybe that’s something I forgot to do. Or maybe there are certain situations I don’t know how to play, and I have to just keepplaying matches against really good players to relearn that.” She concluded.
As Osaka exits the games, Kerber will play Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in the second round.
