Naomi Osaka, a new star is born
"I'm not really satisfied like I am happy that I'm here but at the same time I want to keep going. There are more matches to win," Naomi Osaka had said concerning her first few performances at the Australian Open. She not only kept going but zoomed all the way to the top outlasting her final opponent Petra Kvitova to win the title 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
By winning the crown placed Osaka as the number one player in the world and the second Asian in history to win the Australian Open since 2014 when Li Na captured the title. It took the young Japanese only four months to capture two slams as many players have yet to accomplish such feat but for Osaka, it was just another day on and off the court trying to put it all out there and play her best. The title for her appeared at times to be a shock as she's said at press conference time that "It's a little bit unreal, but at the same time, I realized the work that I put in the off season..." But there are times when she admits to not really being able to play her best as in the semifinal with Karolina Pliskova when she lost the second set 4-6. "...I would never forgive myself if I had a little dip or a moment of accepting defeat...", she mentioned concerning her semifinal round. She could feel that her time was coming and that not staying determined and to lose the match would have been horrific. Osaka comments that "There were moments in the match I thought like this is getting really close...", meaning to the final round to face Petra Kvitova, a player that she's never played before but has watched her performances with others.
There were so many thoughts and decisions that Naomi Osaka had to face in the Australian Open final that she just knew it was her top priority and that most of all she didn't want to disappoint her family, let alone herself. "I'm in the finals of a grand slam...I don't want to have any regrets," she had repeated over and over. She took the necessary shots and nailed them to complete her goal, but for her veteran opponent, she also put it all out there with different results as she said "Yeah, it's painful for sure. I don't know how long it will take me to get over it...when I look back I did have my chances..." This was the first grand slam final she's been in since the intruder attack in her apartment over two years ago in the Czech Republic. But she says that "I've won two years ago", meaning during the stabbing and she's survived to make a magnificent comeback on tour.
As for Naomi Osaka, she is the number one player and has just bagged another title that will hopefully lead to other successful tournaments throughout her tour whether they're grand slams or not.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Hz5hh9
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