Naomi Osaka: 'Before US Open final I woke up at 3:00 AM, I was sweating'
Naomi Osaka approached the Australian Open final in a different way than the US Open. The Japanese was calmer. “This time I was really nervous too, but not as bad. Before the match, I felt fine, but I didn’t sleep well. I woke up at 5.30. but it was better than New York. In New York, I woke up at 3 and I was sweating", said Osaka, who defeated Serena Williams at the US Open.
This month at the Brisbane International Osaka had blamed herself for showing a childless attitude in her semifinals loss to Lesia Tsurenko. “After the Tsurenko match I had this dark cloud over me and I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it until my next match. I just thought that that feeling was very ‘icky’ and I didn’t really want to have regrets like that any more.”
Osaka also reflected on how it feels to become the new world No. 1: “Of course being No 1 is something that you dream about as a kid. To be in this position feels a bit weird because I feel like all my life I’ve been chasing people and chasing after the rankings. It is a bit strange when you say it like that, for it to be a leadership position. I know if you’re No 1 it’s very difficult because people expect you to win all the time and you also have really hard matches because everyone wants to beat you. I feel like you should ask me this after my first match [as world No 1]."
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2B7QcgD
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