Naomi Osaka shed tears following her impressive first-round US Open win, and the four-time Slam winner revealed afterwards what got her so emotional.
Osaka, who won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, looked every bit of an elite player on Tuesday as she easily dispatched world No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-2.
And the Japan-born player, who missed all of last season on maternity leave, was overcome with emotion after surging into the second round and earning her first top-10 win in four years.
‘I mean honestly it’s like a combination of a lot of different things,’ she told reporters after the match. ‘I grew up here, so just seeing kids, and then remembering my daughter, but seeing kids coming and watching me play and just remembering that I was a kid, I guess a long time ago, made me very emotional.
‘Then also just remembering that I came and watched Coco [Gauff] play her semis [last year] and I was in the audience, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again at this level, and just to play Ostapenko who is such a great player and win that match means a lot to me.’
Naomi Osaka got emotional after beating Jelena Ostapenko in the US Open first round
She explained that cried due to a variety of factors, such as thinking about her daughter and seeing the kids in the crowd
‘Yeah, just seeing the stadium really full, it meant a lot, because I was, like, ‘Oh, I hope people come watch me play,” she continued.
Osaka, who hasn’t made it past a Slam third round since she won the 2021 Australian Open, even admitted that she cried more on Tuesday than after winning her Grand Slams.
‘The first US Open that I won, I played [Aryna] Sabalenka in the round of 16. I remember I cried really hard after that, because I was having my, like, barrier of I couldn’t get to the round of 16 or the quarters. I think it was the round of 16 though,’ she began.
‘Yeah, it’s funny though, I feel like I cried a lot more now than I did winning Slams. That’s a little funny.’
It’s been a tough few years for Osaka, as she’s been open about her struggles with depression. She also saw her ranking plummet to No. 88 prior to this tournament, and was given a wild card after failing to qualify for the Cincinnati Open.
She described that moment as essentially rock bottom of her career, and perhaps she’ll thrive in New York with less expectations on her shoulders.
Osaka, 26, has been open about her struggles with mental health in recent years
‘I’m really glad that I played all the tournaments this year, even though the results haven’t been that great, I feel like I could draw from each of those matches,’ she said.
‘Over time, I know even though I lost in the quallies of Cincy, I kind of gained confidence in myself in a weird way, because for me, that was like the worst possible outcome of my career. Granted, I could have lost in the round before that.
‘But yeah, I don’t know, it’s been so much hard work, so much dreams and wishes, and I hope that I can continue.’
She’ll try to make that the case against Karolína Muchova on Thursday.
