Naomi Osaka is one of the most-discussed players on the WTA Tour despite not playing a lot and exactly that is the reason.
The 25-year-old Japanese player is currently ranked 42nd, but that certainly doesn't reflect her capabilities. From 2018 until 2020, she finished in Top 5 of the WTA Rankings every time and even climbed to no. 1 spot. Osaka is also a four-time Grand Slam champion and so without a doubt she's one of the most-dangerous players on the WTA Tour. But she hasn't played much lately and that's exactly what another former world no. 1 Martina Navratilova discussed.
"She’s a very unique case, in every way. So maybe you need to deal with it uniquely," Navratilova said in an interview with WTA. "Maybe she doesn’t have to play all those matches, but she certainly has to play more than she has played."
"With her, it seems to be the forces outside tennis are affecting her more than anything else. It’s baked in. How she’s set up her life with all those outside interests and influences and demands on her time greater than anybody else," she stressed.
"If her priority is tennis, then step back a little bit. You don’t have to do it all. It has to suck your energy away from tennis," Navratilova said. "I’m all for broadening your horizons -- I was never a one-trick pony -- but tennis came first. It doesn’t mean training harder, necessarily, but maybe sometimes doing nothing at all. Put your feet up or go to the beach."
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