|
Post by Admin on Jan 22, 2019 20:11:10 GMT
The two-time Grand Slam champion didn't hesitate to anoint Japan's Naomi Osaka as the player with a bright future.
So Li -- to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July along with fellow former Australian Open champions Mary Pierce and Yevgeny Kafelnikov -- was not surprised when Osaka won the 2018 US Open or when she became a quarterfinalist at Melbourne Park this year.
Li was a trailblazer in a women's tennis, becoming the first player from China to win a WTA title, in 2004, and the first from Asia to win a Grand Slam singles title when she won the 2011 French Open. She also won the Australian Open in 2014 after losing two previous finals there.
"When I first saw Naomi Osaka play, I thought she was really calm, very mature on court. She was so focused on her game itself, no pressure, point by point. That quality and the player's focus really impressed," Li said through a Chinese translator.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2019 18:31:08 GMT
After defeating Elina Svitolina on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she will face No. 7 Karolina Pliskova, Osaka told the crowd in her on-court interview that she'd set a goal for herself not to get angry. "Most people know me for US Open, right? And during US Open, I didn't show any emotions most of the time," Osaka said. "But then after that, I did show -- well, in my opinion, it was a lot of emotions. I got upset, and then I threw my racket or stuff like that. And, for me, I don't really want to do that. I feel like I play better when I'm calm. There is an inner peace I can tap into sometimes during my matches. So that's just something that I'm trying to learn how to do consistently." Osaka, 21, gets frustrated and sometimes it shows. Before the Australian Open, Osaka apologized for her behavior in a match at the Brisbane International. When she played Hsieh Su-wei of China earlier in the tournament, Osaka had moments when she was visibly irritated and smashed her racket onto the court a couple of times. Not enough to break it, but enough that it was obvious that she was unhappy. But Osaka rallied to orchestrate an impressive come-from-behind win after losing the first set and falling behind 4-2 in the second.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2019 18:55:08 GMT
Naomi Osaka got a bit of a scare against Karolina Pliskova, but she got the job done in a three-set win in the Australian Open semifinals. Osaka finds herself in her second straight Grand Slam final at just 21 years old. After winning the US Open in September, Osaka is now trying to win the Australian Open as well. Her opponent will be the eighth-ranked Petra Kvitova, who ended the run of Danielle Collins to make it to the final.
Kvitova has swept her way through the tournament, and she's yet to lose a set. With that being said, she's played only one ranked opponent to this point: No. 15 Ashleigh Barty. Since her first-round win, Osaka has only played ranked opponents.
However, you play who you play, so for these two women it's a clean slate. Osaka has improved as time has gone on -- she had an outrageous 15 aces against Pliskova -- and she seems to do better with pressure, as we saw against Serena Williams in September. Going for back-to-back majors is a ton of pressure, but she's proven to be more than capable.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 26, 2019 18:51:49 GMT
Fresh off ascending to the peak of the tennis world, Naomi Osaka awkwardly walked up to the microphone. "Hello!" she said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "Public speaking isn't really my strong side. I just hope I can get through this." But what else was she going to say? After the controversy of her first Grand Slam final—and the ugliness of the boos at her first trophy presentation—her tennis spoke for her in the grueling 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 match she won over Petra Kvitova. Osaka survived a nervy implosion in the second set and won the first and third ones with polished brilliance. Her backhand returns neutralized her Czech opponent's feared lefty serve out wide. Her defensive efforts and movement stymied all of Kvitova's attempts to find rhythm in the decider. And she always found a way to summon her devasating serve-forehand combination when she needed a point most. After that display of power tennis, a simple, chipper "hello" would need to suffice for the millions of fans watching worldwide. "Thanks to my team. I really don't think I would've made it through this week without you guys," she said. "I read notes before this but I still forgot the rest of what I was supposed to say..."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2019 18:50:48 GMT
People in Japan slam the reporter’s request and rush to the tennis pro’s defence. Naomi Osaka won the Australian Open on the weekend, in a nail-biting three-set match against two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, making her the first Asian tennis player ever to become world number one. The American-raised half-Japanese half-Haitian Japanese national has won support from fans around the world and also here in her birth country, where people seem fascinated by her mixed background and curious about her ability to speak Japanese.
|
|