Jennifer Brady will face the great Naomi Osaka in what will be her first slam final. The upcoming American was asked to comment about Naomi Osaka and the first memory she has about the world no.3
Jennifer revealed that she actually knows Naomi for a long time as they used to play junior events together. Brady said that she was already impressed by Naomi.
“Actually, we grew up playing junior local tournaments in Florida. Both her and her sister [Mari], I played in the Juniors local, like Super Series events just like USTA sanctioned tournaments,” Brady explained.
Jennifer has a 1-2 win/loss record against Naomi. She played Osaka for the first time back in 2014 when she won 6-4 6-4.Â
“I remember playing her in this tournament. It may have been like a lower-level challenger event and I think she was just coming up maybe inside the top 200.
“I remember playing her, and I was like wow she’s all huge like she’s going to be good. I was like okay she’s got something special,” she added.
The US Open semifinal
Jennifer Brady and Naomi Osaka clashed against each other just on 3 occasions on the main tour. Their head to head is 2-1Â for Osaka. Previously, the last time they squared off, Naomi Osaka won 7-6(1) 3-6 6-3 in the semifinal in New York (U.S. Open) in September 2020.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
Brady at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Now ranked no.24 (career-high), Jennifer owns a 9-2 match record in 2021. Brady is currently competing at the Australian Open where she bested Aliona Bolsova 6-1 6-3, Madison Brengle 6-1 6-2, Kaja Juvan 6-1 6-3, Donna Vekic 6-1 7-5, Jessica Pegula 4-6 6-2 6-1 and Karolina Muchova 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Osaka at the Australian Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Now ranked no.3, Naomi has an overall 9-0 match record in 2021. The Japanese is now playing at the Australian Open where she overcame Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-2, Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-3, Ons Jabeur 6-3 6-2, Garbine Muguruza 4-6 6-4 7-5, Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2 6-2 and Serena Williams 6-3 6-4.
Naomi won 6 titles in her career: all of them conquered on hard courts. (See the list of her titles)
