Reaching the final of a Grand Slam is a huge achievement for many but for Naomi Osaka she wants to take it one step further at the Australian Open.
The world No.4 is through to the title match in Melbourne after producing a comprehensive win over idol Serena Williams to continue her almost perfect run at the tournament. Osaka has only dropped one set in six matches which was against Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round. It is the second time in her career she has reached back-to-back major finals after also doing so at the 2018 US Open followed by the 2019 Australian Open.
Osaka heads into Saturday’s showdown as the overwhelming favourites against Jennifer Brady who she defeated in three sets last year. She has a perfect record in Grand Slam finals so far in her career but what is her secret?
“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,” Osaka told the media in Melbourne. “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.”
The original motivation for the 23-year-old was to become the first player from her country to win a major title. Now Osaka says the driving factor is wanting to do well for those who have supported her. She is currently coached by Wim Fissette who have also worked with the likes of Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber.
“For the me right now, of course it’s nice to see your name on a trophy or your name on a wall. But I think bigger than that, I feel like I’m playing with a different purpose for this trip (to Australia),” she said.
“I think I’m just so happy with my team and we’ve been through this entire quarantine and we’ve been stuck together. Every day is really fun with them. I just want to do really well as a vessel for everyone’s hard work.”
Osaka is certainly a big time player and hasn’t lost a match in her three tournaments previously played before the Australian Open. Although in two of them she withdrew from midway through due to injury-related issues. The last time she actually suffered a loss on the Tour was to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in the Fed Cup almost a year ago.
The recent surge in consistent results can be linked to a surge in her mental strength. An area of her game which Osaka says she is ‘most proud of.’ But how did she manage to elevate her level in the first place?
“I honestly think that it’s just opening myself up more to my team, having long talks with Wim before I go out, expressing the nerves that I feel instead of bottling it all up and trying to deal with it by myself,“ she explained.
“I feel like just being secure in myself as a person and knowing that the people that I love will still love me, like my family won’t hate me because I lose a tennis match and stuff like that.”
Leading into the final, Osaka has a 2-1 winning head-to-head record against Brady.
