Naomi Osaka started her 2024 Canadian Open in Toronto with a first-round win against Ons Jabeur, no less.
The Japanese player looks happy to be back on hard courts. It's been a long time since Osaka stepped on a hard court, and according to her own words from a few days ago, it was a great feeling to be back.
The hard court will always be the surface she loves most. It's not by chance that she played a really good match against a solid opponent as well, as the Tunisian was the ninth seed at the WTA 1000 event.
Jabeur didn't play a very good match, but can we blame her? She has been dealing with a lot of physical problems recently, ranging from knee problems to now a shoulder problem, which prevented her from playing last week in Washington.
Getting Osaka so early in Canada was not a good draw for her, especially as the Japanese player was so happy to be back on the surface. The first break came fairly early in the match, as the former World No. 1 jumped out to an early lead.
The problem for Jabeur was the serve, which is not surprising given the shoulder injury. There is a good chance that she shouldn't have played this match, but even if she was cleared to do so, she clearly couldn't serve the way she wanted to.
The number of double faults and the fact that she hit her first serve very rarely prove that. It's a shame because when she did hit her first serve, she won the majority of those points.
If she had been able to have at least an average serving performance, she likely would have made this match much more interesting. Taking that early break was amazing for Osaka because it only lifted her further, giving her more confidence.
She cruised through her service games with ease after that, not allowing a single break point to Jabeur. The second set followed a similar trajectory as the four-time major winner was once again able to take an early break.
The problem for Jabeur, coming from not being able to serve well, was simply not being able to create any kind of pressure. When Osaka attacked first, she had the upper hand in the rallies, which, with her solid hitting, she was able to use to her advantage.
Her serve is generally a tough one to handle when she is hitting it, but she wasn't hitting it at a high percentage, either. Overall, Osaka simply outplayed a player who was clearly not 100% fit and was dealing with some physical issues, winning the match 6-3, 6-1.
These upcoming weeks will be hugely important for her because she has a lot of points to win if she finds her best tennis. That was the goal before the start of the season: get back into the Top 10.
0 Comments