Naomi Osaka “I felt hollow and like a Robot”
Naomi Osaka has won the Australian Open and she now has the world at her feet.
Osaka went head to head with Kvitova in an exciting final match.
Naomi Osaka in September won her first Grand Slam title in New York. And in just a few months later she is in Melbourne just after her 21st birthday and took the Australian open. This time around she wasn’t facing Serena Williams but it was still a match worth watching.
Osaka had the following to say after her victory over Petra Kvitova: “I’m not sure if it’s feeling grown up, or being able to dissociate my feelings. You know how some people get worked up about things? That’s a very human thing to do. Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to waste my energy doing stuff like that. In the third set of my match today, I literally just tried to turn off all my feelings. I just felt kind of hollow, like I was a robot. I was just executing my orders – I just did what I’ve been practising my whole life in a way.”
When hearing those words, one might think she has gone down a dark path with it, but when you are a real athlete it seems that those are the moments you crave for. When you can do exactly what you practiced.
Osaka has become a real star due to her ability to win when it really matters. Just last year March in Indian Wells, Osaka won her first tour title. Naomi Osaka won over a lot of fans when she delivered an acceptance speech that she called “the worst acceptance speech of all time.” Naomi went from number 72 in the world to an international sensation in a very short time.
Osaka is an amazing player and with the help of her coach Sascha Bajin, Osaka has been able to tap into her explosive power even more. Bajin had the following to say about Naomi “From the very beginning, she was a big hitter. I didn’t have to teach her how to hit the ball or anything. Maybe it was a little bit more like telling her there are other things out there than just hitting very hard. We worked on her angles. We worked on just a little bit more of everything – slicing, I wanted her to come in a little bit more.”
Osaka also has a very close bond to her father who she refers to as her mental pillar. Osaka is the youngest world number one since Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark reached the top in 2010. Naomi had the following to say about her future plans: “I’m going to have to play Indian Wells again. Of course, I’d love to win that again and then play Miami and hopefully win that. People who can win Indian Wells and Miami back to back, it’s usually the best players in the world. That would be my next goal. Yeah, I feel like I’m going with the flow. That’s sort of been my motto my whole life ….”
I for one love her passion and power game. I look forward to what the future holds for her.