"I should be somewhere where I'm obviously currently not" - Osaka on bad season

Monday, 19 September 2022 at 18:20

Updated at Monday, 03 February 2025 at 10:31

byErik Virostko

Naomi Osaka is aware that she hasn't performed at her top level in recent weeks, and she's motivated to change that at the 2022 Japan Open in Tokyo.

The 2022 season is the first trophy-less season for Naomi Osaka since 2018 and obviously her worst in recent years. The four-time Grand Slam champion has struggled to go deep at Grand Slam tournaments and her struggles were obvious also at lower-tier events.

Osaka will try to change that in Tokyo, where she arrived to compete at the 2022 Japan Open. She's ready to show her best tennis in front of home fans, and she seemed very motivated ahead of the event.

"I feel like I just want to play well. I think that's always a really good feeling for me. Whenever I come to Japan, I feel really happy, I feel like I always play well here, and I think I do. So I think it's a really good combination."

"It feels really weird to hear that I'm the defending champion because it was the last time I played in 2019. I would love to win it again, but I think just taking it one match at a time … and also just playing in front of a crowd in Tokyo again, because the Olympics was crowdless, so it will just be nice to see people."

So far in 2022, the former WTA World No. 1 player has won 13 matches while losing 9, and she reflected on her year in Tokyo. She admitted that while she knows she should be somewhere else, she's also at peace with herself, which is the most important thing to her.

"I think, of course, the year has (not been) the best year for me. But I think overall I've learned a lot about myself and I'm just happy to be healthy. Because in Europe, I did injure myself, and that was like my first injury that took me that long to get healed."

"I think life is kind of ups and downs, and this one was kind of more down than up, but overall, I'm pretty happy with where I am now. It was kind of hard at first. Just because I feel like I should be somewhere where I'm obviously currently not. But I think I feel like, for me, it's more about being at peace with myself."