Naomi Osaka has been experiencing a rather long hiatus after she won the US Open. The Japanese sensation was sidelined by a hamstring injury to skip the rest of the season. Therefore, 2020 was a rather odd year for Naomi as she played just 4 tournaments, but yet she managed to win her 3rd slam (see Naomi’s titles).
The Olympics and the slams as top priorities
Like most top players, Naomi will give maximum priority to the important events in 2021. Therefore the former world no.1 will focus on the 4 slams and the Olympics played in Tokyo.
During a recent interview, Osaka’s trainer Yutaka Nakamura stressed that Naomi wants to perform particularly well in Tokyo. She is well aware that she won’t have many opportunities to compete in the Games that are played every 4 years. Therefore, just for this season, the slams may not become the primary target for Naomi.
“Naomi has described her biggest goal in 2021 as doing well in the Tokyo Olympic Games. In the remainder of her career, Naomi can likely only compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Paris in 2024, and Los Angeles in 2028,” Nakamura commented.
Naomi not playing in Abu Dhabi and her schedule
Naomi Osaka decided not to compete in the first WTA event in Abu Dhabi (see the entry list
). The world no.3 will go straight to Australia, where she might play a warm-up event before the slam.Since the WTA hasn’t been able to publish the schedules of the season after the Australian Open, it’s impossible to know Naomi’s plan for 2021.
Naomi Osaka in 2021
Ranked world no.3, Osaka played her last match on the 12th of September 2020 when she overcame Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6th career title.
This season the Japanese has managed to achieve an overall 0-0 win-loss record.