Iga Swiatek was very glad to see Naomi Osaka back on the tennis court, and she talked about what she'd noticed since she'd been back.
Swiatek and Osaka were never that tight while they both played on the WTA Tour, but there was a lot of respect there. The Pole bested the fellow four-time major winner in the Miami Open final before the Japanese player took a break from the sport, and she is glad to have her back.
Before Ashleigh Barty took over as the best player in the world, Osaka was the dominant force in tennis and, as such, somebody Swiatek looked up to. She would then see herself overcome Osaka as world number one and actually beat her in a final.
Nowadays, she's the dominant force, with Osaka wanting to dethrone her, and she'll have to work hard for that to happen. It might get interesting, but talking about the Japanese player at the 2024 Qatar Open, Swiatek noted some differences in her approach compared to before.
She prefaced the response by pointing out that they were never that close, to begin with, but some things were immediatelly noticeable.
"Well, I mean, it's hard to say, because we haven't had a lot of time to talk. Also, you know, it's not like we have been keeping touch for this past, you know, year or even more. I can just see that she is more proactive in terms of communicating."
"It's just nice, because she seems more comfortable. Yeah, but I don't want to dig into it, because it's her life, you know, and no point of talking behind her back right now."
The two could have met already in Doha. However, Osaka lost to Karolina Pliskova, only for the Czech player to withdraw from her semi-final against Swiatek.
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