Despite Australian Open upset, Naomi Osaka remains optimistic

Naomi Osaka is maintaining a positive attitude despite losing in the Australian Open Friday after a close three-set battle against Amanda Anisimova.

For her, the noticeable improvements to her mental outlook during the match was particularly valuable.

“The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude, so I’m really happy with … I lost, but I’m happy with how it went,” Osaka told the Australian Open. “I think this for me is the biggest step, even though I lost. I think I was really focused throughout the entire match, and I didn’t have a dip.”

The 13^th seeded Osaka lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-6[10-5], giving up two match points in the second set due to backhand errors. According to Yahoo Sports, though Osaka dominated the first set of the match, Anisimova raised the level of her gameplay to come back. Per match statistics, Osaka only hit 21 winners to Anisimova’s 46. Both players, however, committed approximately the same number of unforced errors—Osaka committing 45, compared to Anisimova’s – reflecting Anisimova’s cleaner play.

Despite the close match, however, Osaka is pleased with her progress as she returns to tennis. As AsAmNews previously reported, Osaka had taken an extended break from tennis due to mental health reasons after a difficult loss at the US Open. Though she returned for the first time to play the Melbourne Summer Set, a warmup tournament for the Australian Open she was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to abdominal issues.

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Osaka also faced a tough competitor in the third round: though Anisimova was unseeded in this year’s Australian Open, her low ranking does not reflect her ability. The twenty-year-old had formerly been ranked as high as 21^st in official WTA rankings. Her ranking had dropped significantly after the death of her father in 2019.

For the 24-year-old Osaka, this, too, is a major boon to tennis as a whole.

“To me, it’s exciting. Not the loss itself, but the person I lost to because it’s like showing the growth of tennis,” Osaka said. “I feel like now I’m in this position where if I lose to someone, it might make a headline, but I also think it kind of grows more superstars, and I feel like that’s good for the game.”

Osaka’s optimistic attitude may be a product of her lowered expectations of herself, which were tempered by her long break. She recognizes that she returned to the circuit earlier than expected, and says her coach, Wim Fissette, believes the lack of matches beforehand had caused her to be too unprepared for the Grand Slam.

Despite this, Osaka has no regrets: “those are the choices that I made.” To her, the Australian Open is only the next step of her journey as she rediscovers her appreciation of the sport.

“Definitely I think I fought for every point. I can’t be sad about that. I’m not God,” she said according to Sporting News. I can’t win every match, so I just have to that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s like really special, and I can’t think of myself to try and win the grand slam at the start of the year every time,” Osaka said in her press conference. “For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York, I think I had a completely different attitude, so I’m really happy, of course, I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”

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