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Post by Admin on Dec 29, 2019 20:08:54 GMT
Extended Highlights: Naomi Osaka vs. Kristina Mladenovic | 2019 Indian Wells First Round
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Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2020 19:49:20 GMT
Naomi Osaka had what she calls a near-death experience in the off-season. Which means, at the very least, she felt really out of her depth.
She also hired a new coach - Wim Fissette the latest to join her team - last month. So she may have a new perspective in 2020.
The reigning Australian Open champion will start her season with a first-round match against Maria Sakkari at the Brisbane International, which starts Monday and will share a venue for three days with the ongoing ATP Cup - the new international men's team competition. Top-ranked Ash Barty is among the other five Grand Slam winners in the draw.
Osaka held the No. 1 ranking at the end of last January and finished 2019 at No. 3, after withdrawing from the WTA Finals because of a shoulder injury.
An extended break meant she got to take a trip to the Caribbean - her first real vacation, she said - and that's where things got slightly out of her control.
At the insistence of her older sister, Mari, she went out paddle boarding while visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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Post by Admin on Jan 14, 2020 19:43:28 GMT
Naomi Osaka got past the early loss suffered at the 2019 US Open with the help of Beyonce, who opened the Japanese’s eyes and made her acknowledge what she really stands for in the world. After she lost against Belinda Bencic in the fourth round of the American Grand Slam, Osaka was downhearted, but, fortunately, she found someone to get help her get back on the saddle — worldwide star Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z. "I met Beyonce and Jay-Z during the off-season. She just smelled expensive and beautiful and she was soft and she hugged me. I was like, this is what heaven is." Osaka told the WTA website. All it took for Osaka to realize that losing in the early stages of US Open is not the end of the world was a short pep talk. And Beyonce did just that, according to the Japanese. "She was talking to me and she said she was proud of me. I thought, wow, that actually was a really important moment. I felt really depressed after I lost my match, but I'm thinking about the impact that tennis players - I don't think we know, I don't think we're aware of all the good that we can do”. Osaka confessed. "That was kind of an eye-opening thing. Even though it was one of my worst points, to lose - I wanted to be a defending champion and I lost early - there's still something really good that came out of that”.
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Post by Admin on Jan 21, 2020 19:07:49 GMT
Naomi Osaka breaks the net with a 183km/h serve at Australian Open 2020! On Monday (January 20th) morning, at a pre-match interview, the world’s No. 3, Japanese storm-borne, Naomi Osaka made an awkward comment saying she did not have the courage to hold a conversation with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Serena Williams, suggesting the utterly decent 22-year-old Japanese had yet to adjust with the spotlights that came alongside two Grand Slam titles. Nonetheless, the Japanese maverick much-known for her storm-raged serves, did not need to wait longer to snatch her first major title win that came in a controversial 2018 US Open final in which the then 20-year-old young gun had overwhelmed the 23 Grand Slam titles owner, Serena Williams.
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Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2020 19:11:51 GMT
Roger Federer and the clash between young guns Coco Gauff & Naomi Osaka headlined the night session of day 5 at Australian Open 2020. American teenager Coco Gauff has turned the tables on Naomi Osaka, knocking the defending champion out of the Australian Open with a straight sets victory on Rod Laver Arena. The 15-year-old Gauff moved through to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the third seed and world number four in just one hour seven minutes. The teenager — who was ranked 685th in the world in January 2019 — hit the headlines midway through last year, when she made it to the round of 16 at Wimbledon, along the way beating seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Venus Williams Magdalena Rybarikova and Polona Hercog before losing to the ,eventual champion, Simona Halep.
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