Naomi Osaka is unsure of her participation at Wimbledon as she points to no ranking points and injuries as part of her potential decision.
The three-time grand slam champion played at a good level but crashed out of Roland Garros at the opening round to former semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova 6-4 7-5.
Osaka hit eight double faults as her serving was impacted by an Achilles problem which she admitted in her post-match press conference that she didn’t have a lot of time to practice, “I didn’t feel, like, my Achilles until the second set, I would say,” Osaka said after the match.
“I think the serve issue was just down to like playing a really good returner and kind of being a bit shaken by what she could possibly do. So I was trying to maybe go for too much, more than usual.
“And also, yeah, I also haven’t practiced as much as I wanted to. But, yeah, I was really grateful for the crowd, like I could feel a lot of energy. It was really fun to play there, even though I didn’t win.”
Osaka’s performance suggests that she played at a good level despite the lack of preparation and will take the positives heading into the rest of the season.
However the former US Open champion had her say on Wimbledon not having any ranking points due.
This is a decision made by the WTA and ATP after Wimbledon announced that they were banning Russian and Belarusian players from competing there.
Osaka told the press today that she is uncertain whether she will compete at the tournament and labelled the event an ‘exhibition.’
“I’m not sure why, but like, I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think like something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%.
“And I would say like the decision is kind of affecting, like, my mentality going into grass, like I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to go there. I’m the type of player that gets motivated by, like, seeing my ranking go up or like, you know, stuff like that. So I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.
“I didn’t even make my decision yet, but I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances, but, you know, that might change. I do want to like rack up more experience on the grass, and I know that like the Berlin tournament is giving out points, so that would be a really good opportunity for me.”
Osaka is not the only player to express her doubts over Wimbledon as Tennis’ governing bodies face pressure and backlash over the decision around the event.
As for Osaka the future seems bright for her and the Japanese star aims to be back at the top of the world rankings by the end of next year, “No. 1 is definitely a really high goal for next year, but hopefully by the end of this year, if I keep working hard, I will get closer to where I want to go,” Osaka concluded.
