Naomi Osaka trains at Rafa Nadal Academy ahead of Madrid Open
A year ago, Naomi Osaka was one of the upcoming young stars, ranked just outside the top-20 but with mediocre results on clay and grass, also losing three out of four hard-court matches before the US Open. In New York, Naomi introduced herself to the entire tennis world, destroying six out of seven rivals and toppling Serena Williams in the controversial final to write history as the first Japanese Grand Slam champion. Osaka played only three tournaments by the end of the season, settling into the top-10 and enjoying in her New York triumph, preparing for 2019 that could not have started in a better way, toppling all the rivals at the Australian Open for the second straight Grand Slam crown at the age of 21!
With extra 2000 points on her tally, Naomi became world no. 1, the youngest one since 2010 and Caroline Wozniacki, and the first player since Jennifer Capriati to win a Grand Slam title right after the first one. The results were not there in the following months, hitting the exit door in Dubai against Kristina Mladenovic and failing to reach the quarters at Indian Wells after a poor performance against Belinda Bencic. Su-Wei Hsieh ousted Osaka in the third round in Miami and she had to withdraw before the semi-final in Stuttgart with abdominal injury last week, beating Donna Vekic in a marathon on the previous day.
Naomi has been working on a comeback for Madrid and Rome and she has chosen the best possible destination for her practice run, arriving at the beautiful Rafael Nadal Academy to shape up her form before heading to Madrid (Osaka has to defend only 200 points in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros). Opened in May 2016, the Academy has been passing Rafael Nadal's vision onto the new generation of potential tennis stars, hosting them at the state of art facility in his hometown of Manacor. The Academy offers the best possible facilities for the upcoming youngster, giving them a chance to work on their game regularly and improve the various elements of their tennis together with highly-skilled and trained coaches.
Jaume Munar and Casper Ruud work there regularly when they are not on the road, with many other players coming to train with Rafa or their coaches.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2GXcXr6
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