Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty have both achieved a lot, winning 7 slams in total (4 Naomi and 3 Ashleigh). Both players are not very keen on traveling all over the world to play tennis. Naomi Osaka has recently admitted that she has been trying not to play too many tournaments. Ashleigh Barty went to an all-new level to announce her retirement.
During a nice interview with the Tennis Channel, Naomi confessed that she was quite sad when she learned about Ashleigh’s retirement.
Naomi Osaka commented:
“I feel, this morning when I saw the news of Barty retiring, it made me quite sad. We’re not really friends, more like workplace acquaintances.
But I really admired her for how hard she worked and just how nice she was to everyone. I kind of wanted to be more like her, and I wanted to feel how she probably feels now, that she left everything on the court and she has no regrets.”
Osaka in Miami, ranking, and results in 2022
Currently the world no.77, Osaka has a 7-2 record in 2022. The Japanese is playing in Miami where she toppled Astra Sharma 6-3 6-4.
Naomi Osaka will square off with the world no.15 Angelique Kerber in the 2nd round. Their record is 4-1 for Kerber.
Naomi won 7 titles in her career: all of them conquered on hard courts. (See the list of her titles)
Ashleigh Barty in 2022
Currently ranked no.1, Barty played her last match on the 29th of January when she overcame world no.11 Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6(2) in the final in Australian Open to win her 15th career title.
This season Barty has achieved a composed 11-0 match record. The Australian conquered 2 titles in 2022 in Adelaide and at the Australian Open.
Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty clashed against each other 4 times. Their actual record is 2-2. The last time they played, Naomi Osaka won 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final in Beijing (China Open) in October 2019.
Here the highlights.