Naomi Osaka’s winning return to Wimbledon after five years has left her with mixed emotions.
After being absent from the tournament since 2019 due to a variety of reasons ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to maternity leave, she was given a testing welcome-back match on Monday. Taking on France’s Diane Parry, Osaka battled to a roller-coaster 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, victory where she had to come back from a break down twice in the decider.
“It felt really fun and really stressful at the same time,” Osaka said about her experience of playing on Court Two.
“It was just really fun. It felt like an arena. The match I think was a little up-and-down, but I think overall it was something that I can take a lot away from.”
The Japanese player is regarded as one of the most high-profile names in women’s tennis with a quartet of major titles to her name. However, she is yet to make her mark at Wimbledon. She has won just five matches at the tournament so far in her career which is the fewest among any player to have held the WTA No.1 ranking since the system was introduced in 1975.
Although nobody can rule Osaka out due to her natural talent and powerful ball striking that has caused difficulty for many of her peers over the years.
“I think my serve wasn’t the greatest today. I feel like I definitely should have had a higher percentage,” she reflected on her latest performance.
“Ironically I felt like I returned pretty well. There were certain games where the score didn’t show that, but I felt like I was continuously putting pressure on her. That’s why she double-faulted on the match point.
“I’m glad about that because it’s something that I’ve been working on for a while. To have it, I guess, manifest during the grass season is a really good result for me.”
Osaka now has her second round match to prepare for but before that is another important occasion – her daughter’s first birthday.
“She had a really big celebration a week or so ago. That’s one of the things that I didn’t want to miss. That’s kind of why I didn’t play Eastbourne because I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s first birthday party.” Osaka explained.
“She’s going to have a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy, big event.”
