THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, LONDON — Naomi Osaka said she felt numb after her third-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon Friday.
Osaka won the first set and seemed on her method to a first fourth-round look at the All England Club, before ultimately succumbing to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat. She is yet to attain the second week of a Grand Slam since returning to the tour for the 2024 season, following the start of her daughter, Shai.
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Asked to evaluate how she felt after this newest loss with her devastation at shedding to Paula Badosa in the first spherical of Roland Garros in May, Osaka said: “In Paris, I was very emotional. Now I don’t feel anything, so I guess I’d prefer to feel nothing than everything.”
On that event, after shedding another tight three-setter, Osaka had to briefly depart the interview room in tears. She defined that close defeats harm more than they used to, because she expects more of herself now that she’s in her second yr back on the tour. She described how they impression those around her, including her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
“I hate disappointing people,” Osaka said. “So even with Patrick, I was thinking this just now… But he goes from working with the greatest player ever (Serena Williams, who Mouratoglou coached for a decade) to, like, ‘What the f— this is?’ You know what I mean? Sorry for cursing, I hope I don’t get fined, but…”
Osaka was more sanguine on Friday, but still upset, explaining that half of her disappointment was that she thought she could go on a run here. “I think it’s ’cause I actually thought I could play well, like, in general,” Osaka said — at a event where the draw has opened up with so many seeds exiting early.
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“Not saying I didn’t play well, but make a deep run here. I wanted to do better than I did before. Also, I felt like I was trying so hard.”
Since returning to the tour, Osaka has struggled to hit the heights of the early half of her profession, when she won 4 Grand Slams and turned the world No. 1. She has been in higher kind of late, successful a WTA 125 event (one rung below the essential tour) in France in May and then re-entering the world’s high 50. This week she matched her best efficiency at a main since the begin of her comeback.
Osaka’s getting nearer to her best stage, but she retains shedding tight matches. Six of her last seven defeats have been in three units, and all six of them have featured a 6-4, 7-5, or 7-6 scoreline in the ultimate set.
The upcoming hard-court swing, first across the U.S. and Canada and then China and Japan, is where Osaka has tended to thrive. But last yr it was a disappointment and she said she didn’t need to raise expectations and then really feel let down.
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Osaka, who admits she is too laborious on herself, added: “I’m just going to be a negative human being today. I’m so sorry. I have nothing positive to say about myself, which is something I’m working on.”
Pavlyuchenkova, a former world No. 11 and French Open finalist who is ranked No. 50, will play Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the fourth spherical on Sunday. Osaka’s next occasion is scheduled to be the Citi Open in Washington D.C in late July.
This article initially appeared in The Athletic.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
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