Osaka “proud of” handling scoreboard pressure but “little embarrassed” about showing nerves in Miami
Naomi Osaka rallied from a break down in the deciding set as the emotions ran high, with the former world No 1’s racquet feeling the brunt
© Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
Naomi Osaka survived a tough battle against Hailey Baptiste (7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4) on Saturday to reach the Miami Open fourth round.
Osaka rallied from a break down in the deciding set as the emotions ran high, with the former world No 1’s racquet feeling the brunt on a few occasions. Though the Japanese was pleased with her effort overall, she regretted showing her nerves.
“What I’m most proud of is not worrying too much about the score at the end and just trying to focus on each point and eventually it led me to the win,” Osaka explained on Tennis Channel later, adding:
“I’m a little embarrassed about how much I threw my racquet today but I don’t know, I had so many nerves. I didn’t know how to let it out and that was one of my outlets, which wasn’t the greatest way. But I tried to be more positive than I was negative and I think that did help me over the edge towards the end.”
In the previous round, she overcame No 24 seed Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets (6-2, 6-4), thus, walking in against Baptiste with boosted confidence.
“I am playing good tennis, I do think my match against Samsonova was really great. But overall, compared to last year, I feel like I’m fighting for matches that I wouldn’t have fought for, sort of getting the reputation of ‘If you’re going to beat me, you’re just going to have to fight harder than me.’”
Osaka apologises to her racquet manufacturer
Osaka fought through the first set to secure a lead over Baptiste but the American struck back in the second to cancel the advantage, thus, frustrating the Japanese.
“I think the match was really tough,” Osaka said in her presser later. “I’ve played her once before. Honestly it was really frustrating but also really fun at the same time. I haven’t been able to play super long matches, so it was really nice to get the experience today.”
On a lighter note, the four-time Grand Slam champion apologised to her racquet manufacturer:
“Yeah, today was an emotional day for me. I was saying that I’m a little embarrassed for how much I threw my racquet, which is something that I don’t like to be known for. So very sorry to Yonex about that. But I also feel like I was trying to be really positive and really vocal. So I might have been a little annoying to her on that end, too. But I felt like I needed to do that to, I guess, push myself to continue. In that regard, this match was very difficult.”
