Stretched in vain: Naomi Osaka loses in the first round in Melbourne. Image: AFP
Naomi Osaka has returned to the tennis tour with new motivation. Despite the opening defeat at the Australian Open, she is more open than ever – because she has finally found an answer to an existential question.
At the end of last week, Naomi Osaka stood in the Rod Laver Arena, which dwarfs even the greatest tennis players, and looked through the open roof at the Melbourne sky. It was a moment in which she felt something: familiarity, but also happiness. Osaka said after her training session before the Australian Open that she realized at that moment that she had already won a Grand Slam tournament here twice. She then said a sentence that reveals a lot about where she comes from – and who she wants to be in the future: “I would love to do it again.”
The four-time Grand Slam winner returned to the court in the Rod Laver Arena on Monday evening. This time with a gold jacket and white headphones for her first round game against the 16th seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia. It was her third match since giving birth to a daughter six months ago.
