By Bob Stockton
@BobStockton10
Naomi Osaka’s career is on a remarkable trajectory. At 23, she’s already won two Australian Open titles, as well as two US Open titles. She will soon have the opportunity to add to that with Roland Garros and Wimbledon coming up. But the clay of Roland Garros could present her with difficulties.
The Japanese tennis star spoke to BBC Sport in a virtual interview this week and expressed her desire to win all four of the Grand Slam titles to close things up on that front. However, she admitted she is not comfortable on clay and is apprehensive after slipping on grass and injuring her knee. To that end, she’s asked Novak Djokovic for advice.
Osaka has only won one match on clay since she played in the French Open in May 2019 and, prior to playing in Madrid last month, said she had not played on clay for two years. She would lose to world No.19 Karolina Muchova in the second round of the Madrid Open, having made no secret of playing on clay being outside of her comfort zone.
“I realised I was a bit sad because of my loss last week,” she said. “And then I began thinking ‘when was the last time I was sad that I have lost a match like this?’ And I realised it’s been a while. I actually do trust myself sliding [on clay]. I think it’s just the process of moving after the slide which is a bit difficult.”
Osaka lost to Jessica Pegula in her opening match at the Italian Open a few days later.
“It just takes time, and you just have to work on it,” Pegula said of Osaka’s struggles on clay. “Of course I think she can play well. [Russian former world number one Maria] Sharapova wasn’t a clay-court player. She won the French twice.
“You see [2011 Roland Garros champion] Li Na – a Chinese player winning the French is crazy to me, too.”
When it comes to tennis odds, Naomi is 14/1 for the French Open, behind the likes of Iga Swiatek, Ashleigh Barty, Aryna Sabalenka, and Garbine Muguruza.
Naomi’s prospects on grass don’t appear much brighter and she will have to overcome those struggles to have any chance at winning Wimbledon. Her serve should leave her with an advantage yet her experience on such a surface isn’t that extensive as she did not play on it as a junior.
While her regular appearances in Birmingham and Eastbourne prior to Wimbledon have been helpful, the Japanese star has never made it past the third round. She lost to Yulia Putintseva in straight sets in the first round in her last appearance.
“I would say last year [2019] I was definitely very scared, because I actually got injured once on grass because I slipped and I hurt my knee. So it definitely scarred me a little bit,” she admitted.
“It’s a bit funny, I talked to [Novak] Djokovic about it, because I wanted to ask him how he moved so well on grass and he said that even though he falls a lot, he keeps getting up and he keeps trying different things.
“So I guess I’ll try that the next time I’m on grass.”
Osaka’s rise to prominence has seen her become a voice in the black community. She’s also thrown her weight behind the Black Lives Matter movement. She attempted to pull out of a New York tournament last August in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. She was also involved in protests resulting from the murder of George Floyd by former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Of her off-court activity, Osaka said she tries to focus on tennis.
“I would say I definitely switch off everything. My agent knows not to text me about anything unless it’s super, super important, and I just like to focus on tennis,” she explained.
The 23-year-old paid close attention to Chauvin’s trial and watched on as he was found guilty of murder and manslaughter. As to whether the verdict will prompt a change in the way police treat black American citizens, Osaka doesn’t think it will happen that soon.
“I think it can’t be something that’s flipped overnight,” she said.
“I feel like this is definitely something very monumental, but they say Rome wasn’t built in one day, so I would say you can’t really expect things to change overnight. I think just making people talk about things and being able to understand different people’s perspectives and how they think about things is a great start.”
