Naomi Osaka Calls Out Media For Portraying Her As 'Always Sad' After Wimbledon Loss

Friday, 04 July 2025 at 22:00

byErik Virostko

Naomi Osaka is one of the most emotional players on the WTA Tour, but she doesn't like to be portrayed as "always sad" after her losses.

Osaka's comeback after becoming a mother has been a proper mixed bag. She has recorded some impressive wins, played some epic matches, and got close to having deep runs, but she still misses that one big run that would catapult her up the rankings.

There are multiple reasons why that hasn't happened yet. The draws have been quite brutal to the former World No. 1 player, and at the times when her draw was playable, Osaka almost always lost a very tight match against an inspired opponent.

The same thing happened at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. The Japanese player's draw cleared up after the losses of the fifth-seeded Qinwen Zheng, the 20th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, and the likes of Ons Jabeur and Diana Shnaider. However, she was not able to get past the third-round hurdle, losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Osaka played a great match. She hit 15 aces and had multiple chances to win or come close to winning. She was up 6-3, 4-4, and 40-15 before losing eight of the next 10 points. Later, in the third set, the four-time Grand Slam champion had two break points to lead 4-3.

Still, she couldn't use her chances and lost the match 6-3, 4-6, 4-6. It was another disappointing loss for Osaka, who failed to find any positives during her press conference after losing the match.

"I’m just gonna be a negative human being today. I’m so sorry. I have nothing positive to say about myself, which is something I’m working on. It was my daughter’s birthday. I was happy about that this week. Other than that, today, I’m just constantly replaying the match."

The 27-year-old was also asked to compare the loss to the one at the French Open, where she also played a good match against Paula Badosa, but, too, lost 4-6 in the third set. Osaka cried in her press conference in Paris, but this time, she felt different.

"I think in Paris... when I sat here, I was very emotional. Now I don’t feel anything. I guess I prefer to feel nothing than everything."

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Shortly after her press conference, Osaka likely saw some bits of it online, and wasn't happy by how she was portrayed. The two-time US Open champion felt like she was portrayed as "always sad" and that her happy side is not shown after her wins.

"Bro why is it every time I do a press conference after a loss the ESPNs and blogs gotta clip it and put it up. Wtf, why don’t they clip my press conferences after I win? Like why push the narrative that I’m always sad?"

"Sure I was disappointed a couple hours ago, now I’m motivated to do better. That’s human emotions. The way they clip me I feel like I should be fake happy all the time."

Osaka will now want to forget her loss and move onto the hard courts, where she enjoyed the most success during her career. Her next tournament should be the Canadian Open in Montreal.