Osaka says grass can be a good surface for her: “There is potential there, I hope to unlock it”
The Japanese will be playing Wimbledon for only the fifth time in her career. She faces Talia Gibson in the first round
Naomi Osaka, 2025 © Zuma / Psnewz
Naomi Osaka learned a long time ago not to raise expectations when it comes to Wimbledon, which is probably sensible, given that she has only played there four times and never gone further than the third round.
The former world No 1 also played just one warm-up event, losing a tight match to Liudmila Samsonova in Berlin. Having also lost in the first round at Roland-Garros, beaten in three sets by Paula Badosa, the Japanese is not carrying much form into Wimbledon.
With her daughter here this year, Osaka was in good spirits on Saturday for her pre-tournament press conference and said there was reason for encouragement.
“I think I’m getting used to it more and more,” she said. “I feel a little bit more comfortable moving on grass now.”
“I was hitting every ball hard because I didn’t know what I was doing”
Osaka was asked if she could remember the first time she played on grass and though she actually forgot her first outing, a 50K event in Fukuoka in 2014, she did remember her first event on grass in Britain, a couple of weeks later, in Surbiton.
“It was a 50K or something like that,” she said. “I actually think I made it to the final just like not knowing what I was doing. I was literally hitting every ball (hard) because I figured I couldn’t run too well on the surface.
“So obviously, for first impressions, it wasn’t bad. And it does make me excited to think about what I could do on grass. I would say there’s potential there, and I hope to unlock it.”
“My dreams would be to do well here”
With the hard-court season in the United States to follow after Wimbledon, Osaka will expect to find her feet as the season progresses, a big opportunity to get herself back up the rankings from her current mark of No 56.
But on grass, she is keeping herself grounded, hoping for good results but not demanding too much of herself, at least in terms of results.
“I’ve kind of learned not to have expectations on myself,” she said. “I put a lot of pressure (on myself), especially as time goes on, I feel like I want to do better, which is obviously normal, but my hopes, or my dreams would be to do well here.
“I can only take it one match at a time, and I say this often, but I would probably go smaller than that and try to take it one point at a time, try to make the best with opportunity that I have, and just try to be thankful to be here.”
