Naomi Osaka has acknowledged her respect and devotion for her tennis role models, notably Serena Williams. She will return to the court for the Australian Open in 2024. The Japanese tennis player emphasized how much she adores the American legend, but Naomi also had high comments for Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, and Rafael Nadal.
Osaka expressed her thoughts about Williams and said: “Everyone knows I love Serena and I appreciated how focused Nadal and Sharapova were every match too. I don’t have a favorite though. I like qualities from a bunch of different players.”
The former world number one announced the first for this most recent choice: her return to be scheduled for next year. She said: “I remember watching the Australian Open on television and I felt devastated, I had never missed one, I won twice. While I was watching Serena and Venus I said: I could never play like them at that ‘age’, then I said to myself ‘but no, I could do it.”
She has been compelled to participate in fewer events over the past year due to injuries and her physical state, which has drastically reduced her charm in the game.
Naomi Osaka says she started appreciating Novak Djokovic as she got older:
“Honestly as I grew up I really learned to appreciate Novak a lot more. Purely as a tennis player this man is unbelievable… Everyone knows I love Serena & I appreciated how focused Nadal & Sharapova were… pic.twitter.com/axovjw7a91
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 4, 2023
Naomi Osaka in 2023
Currently ranked no.661, the Japanese played her last match on the 20th of September 2022 when she had to retire when playing against world no.247 Daria Gavrilova in the 1st round and the scoreline was 1-0 .
During this season Naomi owns a compiled 14-9 match record.
Naomi Osaka |
Embed from Getty Images |