September 03, 2021
Naomi Osaka thinks she'll take a break from playing tennis 'for a while'
NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka, the reigning U.S. Open women’s champion and the world No. 3, doesn’t know when she’ll play her next tennis match.
Towards the end of a press conference on Friday night, after losing to 18-year-old, unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the third round, 7-5, 6-7 (2), 4-6, she shed tears while trying to articulate how she processes winning, losing, and this particular third-round loss. She ended the press conference by saying that she thinks she’ll take a break from playing “for a while.”
It’s been an atypical year for Osaka, who pulled out of both Wimbledon and the French Open this summer and saw the ripple effects of those decisions on the court in the Tokyo Olympics and now in this 2021 U.S. Open. After the match, Osaka described her return stats as “horrendous” and said overall, that she “didn’t play that well.” She tallied 36 unforced errors for the night.
Entering Friday’s match, Osaka had won 16 straight Grand Slam matches, but got rattled when things started to go Fernandez’s way on the court. With a chance to close the match on her serve in the second set, Osaka was broken instead when she missed a forehand wide. That forced a tiebreaker, in which she made five unforced errors.
Alex Coffey - Special for USA TODAY Sports
September 4, 2021
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis
Towards the end of a press conference on Friday night, after losing to 18-year-old, unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the third round, 7-5, 6-7 (2), 4-6, she shed tears while trying to articulate how she processes winning, losing, and this particular third-round loss. She ended the press conference by saying that she thinks she’ll take a break from playing “for a while.”
It’s been an atypical year for Osaka, who pulled out of both Wimbledon and the French Open this summer and saw the ripple effects of those decisions on the court in the Tokyo Olympics and now in this 2021 U.S. Open. After the match, Osaka described her return stats as “horrendous” and said overall, that she “didn’t play that well.” She tallied 36 unforced errors for the night.
Entering Friday’s match, Osaka had won 16 straight Grand Slam matches, but got rattled when things started to go Fernandez’s way on the court. With a chance to close the match on her serve in the second set, Osaka was broken instead when she missed a forehand wide. That forced a tiebreaker, in which she made five unforced errors.
Alex Coffey - Special for USA TODAY Sports
September 4, 2021
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis