“I am intimidated by Serena Williams.” NAOMI OSAKA

Naomi Osaka has always mentioned her love for Serena Williams that was a huge inspiration for her career. The Japanese sensation maintains that she is in her position because of Serena and what she has represented in her life. Apparently, Naomi’s father also tried to imitate Serena’s dad (Richard) to initiate his daughters to tennis with also great results.

When Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams

Indeed, Naomi had a rather positive start in her rivalry against Serena. In 2018 she defeated the American the first time that they played in Miami 6-3 6-2, but the 20-time slam champion was clearly out of sort. Then Naomi repeated herself in the famous final at the US Open later in the year with another straight-sets win (6-2 6-4). In 2019, it was time for Serena to strike back and defeated the Japanese 6-3 6-4 in Toronto. Up to now, Naomi has a positive 2-1 head to head record against Serena.

Naomi intimidated by Serena.

During a recent interview with the Vogue Magazine, Naomi admitted that she is still intimidated by Serena, especially when the American legend is close to her. Also, the world no.3 revealed that she is extremely conscious that Serena is much better than her in many aspects.

Naomi added that she had to work hard to keep her “fear” for Serena during the 2018 US Open and she had to block her emotions in order to play with her.

“I get very shy when she’s like 10 feet away from me. That really affected me at the U.S. Open finals in 2018, but I had worked so hard for that moment, and I felt like if I were to be intimidated or show that I was scared of her, she would capitalize on that,” she commented.

Then Naomi offered an interesting insight into how she “treated” Serena during the final in New York.

“When I’m stepping on the court, I have to treat her as a tennis player, not as Serena Williams. I just blocked out all my emotions and thought about playing against the ball, like every ball that came across the net was my opponent.”

Naomi Osaka in 2020

Now the world no.3, the Japanese played her last match on the 12^th of September when she defeated Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6^th career title.

Presently, during this year the Japanese has managed to achieve a 16-3 win-loss record. Naomi conquered 1 title at the U.S. Open. Osaka was the runner-up in New York.

Serena Williams in 2020

Now ranked no.11, Serena Williams was supposed to play on the 30^th of September. However, she conceded a walk over to Tsvetana Pironkova in the 2^nd round of the French Open (draw).

Currently, during this year Serena Williams has managed to achieve a 17-5 match record. Serena Williams has won 1 title in Auckland.

Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams squared off 3 times. Their current record is 2-1 for Osaka. Previously, the last time when they locked horns, Serena Williams won 6-3 6-4 in the quarter in Toronto (Rogers Cup) in August 2019.

You can watch the highlights in the following video.