“I don’t know why I’m crying” – Naomi Osaka

After the jubilant run in Melbourne for the Japanese, Naomi Osaka, she flew down to the Middle East for the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates. Just a few days after her accelerated success owing to her Australian Open and World Number one crowns she parted ways with her coach Sascha Bajin.

The annulment of their thriving league had captured the headlines all over the tennis world and the officials and followers of tennis were blown up after hearing about it. It has been strenuous for Osaka to deal with consequences after the severance with Bajin and consequently, that gave rise to her opening round loss in Dubai to the Frenchwoman, Kristina Mladenovic. It was her first appearance since splitting up with him.

It was a rematch of the first-round meeting in Dubai last year, for Mladenovic and Naomi Osaka, but however, this time the World Number 67 Mladenovic presided over to turn the tide. Breaking Osaka’s serve seven times in the match, Mladenovic sailed into the next round with 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Japanese player. The Frenchwoman, who did not win a match prior to the Dubai event, Osaka failed to win at least 40 per cent of her service points against her.

Osaka accepted her serve was dreadful in today’s match. “‘It let me down. That was an understatement. It (service) was a disaster,” Osaka mentioned after the match. “No, I haven’t been practising well recently. I just thought it would go away during the matches. I was kind of counting on that. That didn’t happen. I mean, my rhythm was kind of off (in practice). But there’s been times where it’s been worse than now, and I managed to play well in matches. Yeah, when I say I haven’t been practising well, just like rhythm. I don’t know, I feel like I’m not doing enough or something”.

Last year, during this time the World Number one, Naomi Osaka was 48th in the world, and she broke down to the question when asked whether the media’s response to the separation with her coach surprised her or not. “I don’t think I necessarily understand what position I’m in, in a way, because last year I wasn’t even anywhere close to this ranking. People didn’t pay attention to me. That’s something that I’m comfortable with,” said Osaka. “I don’t know why I’m crying. Yeah. I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t really like attention. It’s been a little tough.”

Later, the 21-year-old WTA Number one spoke about her next prospects. Osaka continued, “I mean, the Australian Open was not even a month ago. This was just one match. I feel like even if I don’t win any matches for the rest of the year, I wouldn’t say I’m concerned. I think I’m pretty young. I still feel like I have a lot to learn. For me, that’s sort of my biggest thing after this match. I think I played well after I lose a sort of bad match. I’m just looking forward to the next tournament.”

In Dubai, Osaka was training under the Japanese Tennis Federation coach Masashi Yoshikawa, under whom she received coaching in her earlier days. Next, Naomi Osaka will head towards the California desert tournament, to the Indian Wells. For the first time in her career, she’ll be contesting a WTA event as the defending champion.