Tennis legend Chris Evert has offered a light warning to Naomi Osaka ahead of the US Open.
Osaka heads into New York with a relaxed mindset having tested Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros as well as playing some great tennis.
Although having that mindset can be a good thing, 18-time Grand Slam singles champion Chris Evert has offered a warning to Naomi Osaka suggesting that always isn’t a good thing, “She’s going through some doubtful times,” Evert told the Los Angeles Times.
“We’ll see if she can get that magic, because it is the U.S. Open. She has won this title, so let’s see if she can get that magic going. I think her story, her journey, remains to be seen.
“I know she has the game, but it takes more than the game. It takes a lot of confidence and a lot of focus. We’ll see. She’s in a different part of her life right now where it seems she’s so calm and she’s so relaxed and happy and peaceful.
“The mental problems haven’t really affected her. She has a child, which she is madly in love with. Sometimes when you are too happy, that can’t always be good either, I don’t know, for us to be intense and fierce.”
Osaka is aiming for a third US Open title having won the title on two different occasions with her last triumph being in 2020 when she defeated Victoria Azarenka.
Now four years later Osaka enters this year’s US Open having had a child and is now in a much different place mentally.
This is something Evert has said could be healing for the Japanese star with all the expectation on other players’ shoulders this time around, “Naomi has shown us so much compassion and kindness during her career that I think that’s going to translate that into caring for another human being, I think she’s going to be an awesome mum,” Evert continued.
“I think it’s going to be very freeing for her, in the sense that she can now focus on a human being that is more important than anything else in the world.
“And she’s not just focusing on tennis, the pressures, the expectations, all the challenges that she faced before, the anxiety, I think having a child is the most freeing and the most loving act that can happen to you. It’s going to be very healthy and almost healing for her.”
Osaka enters the US Open having lost in the second round in Toronto to Elise Mertens while failing to qualify for Cincinnati.
The US Open starts on the 26th of August.
