NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka is back in the third round of the US Open for the first time since 2021, the year after she won her second championship in Flushing Meadows.
She also plays quite well under the guidance of a new coach. Just don’t expect Osaka to weigh if she’s feeling that she is ready to make a deep run on the place.
“To be honest, I don’t really know. I no longer make it my business to know. I just just leave it in the air,” said the 23rd placed Osaka after eliminating Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 in the second round in just 70 minutes Thursday. “For me I realize that I did everything I could do. I trained very hard. I practiced very hard. If it happens, it happens.”
The four Grand Slam trophies of Osaka all arrived at hard courts: two at the US Open, two at the Australian Open. Since her 2020 title in New York, her journeys have ended with losing in the third round (2021), first round (2022) and second round (2024).
The surface is preferred by the large serving and powerful, first trike tennis for which Osaka is best known. She showed that against Baptiste, although she also showed a willingness to vary speeds and spins.
The other talent that Osaka uses with great effect so far have been returned this week that have an opponent on the defending – winning 11 of the 18 return games she has played so far.
After her exit on the third round in Wimbledon last month, Osaka split from coach Patrick Mouratoglou and started working with Tomasz Wiktorowski, who used to be part of the Iga Swiatek team.
A key, said Osaka: Wiktorowski has encouraged her to concentrate more on the placement of her shots “and not necessarily go for winners.”
They seem to make progress rapidly – and Osaka said that her impression of him quickly changed.
“To be honest, I didn’t know him, I thought he was very scary because he was very long and he wasn’t smiling,” she said. “Now that we are working together, I see that he often laughs. He has a very friendly smile, and it is very nice. That is my little fun about Tomasz.”
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