John McEnroe is among the tennis personalities who are a bit worried about the popularity of the WTA Tour right now. Even if there are a lot of interesting characters, it seems that women’s tennis is not attracting enough attention. The attendance of the WTA Finals in Fort Worth was extremely low and disappointing.
According to McEnroe, as of now, the WTA needs to have an active Naomi Osaka who is the only player who can attract strong attention considering the (plausible) retirement of Serena Williams.
“Right now, there’s nobody that really moves the needle in women’s tennis,” said John. “Coco Gauff can and will, when and if she becomes a multiple Slam champion. Iga Swiatek is clearly the best player in the world, but she doesn’t certainly move the needle, at least in this country. Someone like Osaka is hugely important for the women’s tennis tour in the next 5 years.”
Why is Naomi Osaka not playing
Naomi Osaka has a rather tricky relationship with her profession. The Japanese sensation has admitted many times that she struggles with mental health, especially after losing important matches. Naomi suffered from many injuries this year and she played only 23 matches in 2022. Osaka has already won 4 majors, and it is unclear if she is hungry for more. It will be interesting to see her condition at the upcoming Australian Open.
Naomi Osaka in 2022
Ranked no.42, the Japanese played her last match on the 20th of September when she had to retire when playing against world no.54 Daria Gavrilova in the 1st round and the scoreline was 1-0 .
Until now, during this year the Japanese owns a composed 14-9 record. Naomi Osaka’s most significant result of the year was reaching the final in Miami.
Cori Gauff in 2022
LWLWWLWWWW Currently ranked no.7, Gauff played her last match on the 11th of November when she lost to world no.47 Katerina Siniakova 7-6(1) 6-1 in the Rubber 2 in (draw).
Presently, during this year the American has achieved a compiled 38-23 match record. Cori Gauff’s best result of the current year was getting to the final at the French Open.
Naomi Osaka and Cori Gauff fought against each other 4 times. Their current head to head is 2-2. Before, the last time they competed against each other, Cori Gauff won 6-4 6-4 in the 2nd round in San Jose (Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic) on the 4th of August 2022.
Here are the highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieEIn8PpLA
Iga Swiatek in 2022
Now ranked no.1, the Pole played her last match on the 6th of November when she lost to world no.5 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2 2-6 6-1 in the semifinal in Fort Worth (draw).
At the moment, during this season Iga has a 67-9 match record. Swiatek conquered 8 titles in 2022 in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, French Open, U.S. Open and San Diego. Swiatek was the finalist in Ostrava.
