What’s gone wrong for Naomi Osaka?
The decline of Naomi Osaka is a sad sight for many in the world of women’s tennis. Once one of the most promising up and comers on the scene, her meteoric rise to number one in the world rankings perhaps came too soon for the now 24-year-old, who has slipped down to 42nd after a disappointing couple of years. A combination of mental health issues and injury set backs have consequentially seen her struggle for consistency on the court, and the latest Achilles problem picked up in training confirms she’ll be absent for this year’s edition of Wimbledon next month.
The coronavirus pandemic was tough for lots of us, but Osaka was hit especially hard and it took its toll on the court. Having risen to prominence with four Grand Slam victories, most recently in the 2020 US Open, Osaka was riding the crest of a wave in her youth and was consistently a favourite to win almost every tournament she entered with those betting on tennis.
However, she took a sabbatical from the game to focus on her mental health, withdrawing from last year’s French Open before putting in a rather underwhelming display at the Olympic Games, which would have been especially disappointing coming in her native Japan. Now residing and training in California, the turn of the new year came with fresh optimism, perhaps a baptism of fire even, but results have negated further, with another Roland Garros exit, this time in the first round against American Amanda Anisimov.
It’s not that the loss to the 2019 semi-finalist was a massive upset, she is after all 20 places higher on the world rankings, it is more the fact Osaka is struggling in the early stages of tournaments, something we never could have imagined in the early days of what looked to be a budding career.
“I thought I tried really hard, and I just feel like it was a bit unfortunate because I wasn’t able to play as many matches leading into this tournament,” she said. “So there were probably some really bad decisions that I made on certain points, but I think overall I wasn’t too bad.”
At the time, it looked as though her next tournament would be Wimbledon, another Grand Slam title she has failed to win, and while she would have been an outsider in London, it appeared that Osaka herself was doubting her abilities as the tournament removed ranking points.
“I’m not 100 percent sure if I’m going to go there [to Wimbledon],” Osaka said. “I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass court, but, like at the same time for me, it’s kind of like — I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended, but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by, like, seeing my ranking go up or like, you know, stuff like that.
It isn’t all doom and gloom for Osaka though, she might be missing a chance to play on the London grass with an Achilles injury forcing her to rehab, but away from the court she is continuing to do charitable work to combat mental health.
Her depression looks to have influenced her downfall in the game, but alongside NBA star LeBron James, the launch of their new media company will hope to cross cultural barriers. Once the highest paid female athlete in the world and one of the rising stars in tennis, it’s interesting to see if Osaka will ever ascend to those heights with a racket again, only time will tell if she has what it takes to adapt to the modern game.
