The latest win by Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open has underlined her position as a leader of the women’s game, according to tennis great Justine Henin.
Osaka is through to her fourth Grand Slam final after defeating idol Serena Williams in straight sets on Thursday. The Japanese player has now won 13 consecutive matches at major tournaments after also winning the US Open last year. In Melbourne she has only dropped one set so far which was against Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round.
Although it is Osaka’s more recent performance which has earned her praise from former No.1 Henin who won six major titles, as well as an Olympic gold medal, during her career. Speaking to Eurosport’s Cube the 38-year-old outlined one particular area of Osaka’s game that she was particularly impressed with.
“Serena was clearly confident at the start of the match and Naomi was making a lot of mistakes, but the big difference now is the experience of Osaka,” Henin said.
“It is her capacity, also, to stay in it, and then she started to serve better. The thing I’m really impressed about is that she doesn’t need to overplay.
“Clearly, once she got into the match she was in control of the rallies. She was powerful and she was serving better and better in the second set.
“For me, women’s tennis has a new boss. She has this capacity and she is taking her game to another dimension after winning the US Open again.”
As to what the future may hold for Osaka, Henin has backed her to claim more major titles in the future. So far in her career, the 23-year-old has won six WTA titles and has spent 25 weeks as world No.1. A longer stint than Tracey Austin, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters. She is the first Asian player – male or female – to have topped the tennis ranking system.
“She is really charismatic, and she does not really have any weaknesses. She could improve her first-serve percentage, but I’ve been really impressed,” Henin commented.
“She plays like a champion and I’m very confident she will win more Grand Slams.”
Osaka will play Jennifer Brady in the Australian Open final on Saturday who she has beaten in two out of their three previous meetings on the Tour. She is hoping to continue her unbeaten record in major finals.
“For me, I have this mentality that people don’t remember the runners up. You might, but the winner’s name is the one that’s engraved,” said Osaka. “I think I fight the hardest in the finals. I think that’s where you sort of set yourself apart. It’s the other person won as many matches as you did. It’s something that I think, I don’t know, it’s like the biggest fight.”
Osaka is bidding to become the first WTA player to win all four of her first Grand Slam finals since Monica Seles during the 1990s.
