New York – Two years ago, Naomi Osaka sat in the stands at the Arthur Ash Stadium and watched Coco Goffs progressing to the US Open final by beating Carolina Musiova.
For Osaka, it was a flagrant reminder of its existence – and where it was now.
She was removed three years of her last title in the tournament, and only two months after her daughter’s birth, tea. Being a spectator reminded her of what she was playing against 24,000 people when the bright lights were. She couldn’t wait to go out again.
It is not officially returning to training, but Osaka can depict herself there, and plays against the best players, deep in the four championships.
After a few weeks, she returned to the Training Court, more excited than ever.
On Monday, Osaka returned again at Arthur Ash. But this time, she was facing Gauff, who is now twice and Championship 3, in the fourth round with the appearance of a crowd.
It has been imposed as a match that must be watched between the former heroes in the United States, and two of the largest sports stars, but the match contains a little drama. Osaka, 27, scored the biggest victory, and perhaps the most impressive, after winning 6-3, 6-2 in just 64 minutes to advance to the first quarter of the final since 2021.
This means everything.
“I am a little sensitive and I don’t want to cry, but frankly, I enjoyed a lot here,” Osaka said at the court moments after the court. “I was telling everyone, literally I was in the stands two months after the birth of my daughter, I watched Coco. I really wanted the opportunity to go out here and play. This is the favorite court in the world, and this means a lot for me to return here.”
Six years agoAlmost today, Osaka and Jouf played for the first time.
Osaka was the ruling hero and world number 1, and was a miracle of 15 -year -old and proved the world with its bold bullets to the fourth round in Wimbledon earlier in the summer. It was also described as an unimaginable event on two rising stars.
But Osaka dominated the third match 6-3, 6-0, and it may be largely forgotten. But when Jouf cried on the field, Osaka appointed her and asked her to conduct a post-match interview-usually for the winner-with her. Then Osaka praised Jawf and her parents in a beautiful moment of sporting spirit. The two players have been fundamentally linked since then, even when their career is significantly on different paths.
Osaka eventually lost in the next round in New York, but she continued to win the title again the following year, in addition to her second Australian open title at the beginning of the 2021 season. She was at the top of the tennis world a clear heir to the throne of Serena Williams as the most dominant and known person in women’s tennis.
What happened after that was well documented. She announced that it will exceed the news conferences in the French Open after a few months, which led to the suspension of a media storm and leads to its withdrawal before its match in the second round. Wimbledon skipped. In the Tokyo Olympics and the United States Open, it was lost in the third round. After the early exit in New York, the reporters told her tears that she was considering taking a break from this sport.
“I feel for me recently, like, when I win, I don’t feel happy,” Osaka explained. “I feel more comfortable. Then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don’t think this is normal.”
Osaka returned to the 2022 season but lost in the third round of the Australian Open, then he did not win another big match. She announced her pregnancy a few days before the start of the Australian Open 2023 championship, and many asked whether it would be playing again.
Meanwhile, through Osaka’s struggles and maternity vacation, Jawf continued to climb the classification. She reached her first big final in the 2022 French Open and won her first title in the Championship Championships in the US Open 2023, two days after Osaka watched from the crowd. This summer, Gauff won its second main title in the French Open Championship.
Out of The high -level she saw from Jawf and the rest of the best players in the United States Open, and she wanted to win her daughter, Osaka had great hopes on her return in 2024.
But she did not see the immediate results she was hoping for. While she was flashing from her ancient-most prominent shape during the clash of the second round against Iga Swatek in the French Open last year-he fought against the best players, and at the most important moments. She failed to advance in the second round in a specialty in 2024.
With disappointment of her year, she launched her coach, Wim VIST, at the end of the season and brought Patrick Moratoglu, he became famous for his long -term partnership with Williams. They have achieved some appropriate results-including manifestations in the third round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championship, as well as a title at the level of 125 and the end of the runner-up in Auckland-but the two roads have separated in July.
Since then, Osaka has started working with Tomasz WikTorowski, who has previously trained Swiaatek on multiple major titles. (Swiatek is now working with Fissette.) The results were – those she was looking for desperate since the beginning of her return – immediately.
In the Canada Open last month-their first championship together-Osaka shared an impressive victory after another and reached its first finals since 2022. In her second round match in Montreal against Lyodella Samsonova, she saved two points from the match and forced the specialist. I have since described it as a turning point for its position and self -belief.
“Since then I have begun to think about anything possible,” said Osaka on Monday after a hollow defeat. “You just have to do your best [and] Smile on your face. “
Osaka lost in three groups against Victoria Mbuko in the final match, but she arrived in New York, ranked in the four championships for the first time since birth. It is clear that she was confident and confident of her momentum – and she was happy with her partnership with Wiktorski.
“I am working with a new coach,” Osaka said at the start of the US Open Championship. “It’s really great. It’s incredibly beneficial. It cuts the chase, and makes me feel it is a kind of tennis encyclopedia, so it is good to have a person like that in your corner.”
Osaka has always said that the US Open Championship is its favorite championship. Before winning her first main title – against her childhood champion Williams in a controversial and dramatic final – she was a little girl, as she was watching the tournament on television and attending as a fan, and one day dreaming to play in this event. While Japan represented many years of childhood in New York, and the crowd often gives her the treatment of her hometown.
The tour is a different place, with new faces above the classifications, and Osaka is a person who is now different from what it was during its title in 2018 and 2020, with the additional responsibility of being one of the parents, as well as entrepreneurship. But its goals in the tennis court are still the same.
Now, despite all the changes, it is in a position that is allowed to achieve it again.
Throughout the tournament, Osaka had criticized and like the player who took control of the solid courts in Queens. I just dropped one group – to the number 15, Daria Kaskina in the third round – but it was in the control of the company. Against Gauff, which was in an arduous process to repair the movement of its service in the actual time, Osaka offered its movement, strong service and solution from the beginning. She won 32 points out of the 38 points she served, turned all four break points, and maybe WTA was victorious in 16 out of 24 wins five or more shots.
When it ended, she remained mostly composed, with a wide smile on her face, as her team and members of her family jumped in her box up and down, and they exchanged hugs and enthusiasm.
Gauff, who was broken in the opening game, had five dual errors on a picnic, including one to close the first group. The 21 -year -old had 33 mistakes.
“It is disappointing,” said Jouf after the match. “Certainly it was not the level that I wanted to bring, but it was a step in the right direction that I feel, and I think emotionally how much this week, I think I just intervened, and I was a little empty. You forced me to win every point there today.”
At other points in her career, Osaka was unable to hide her frustration on the field and sometimes it seems to collapse under pressure. But on Monday, throughout her journey in New York, Osaka looked largely inaccurate, indicating a tremendous balance and positive. She admitted that her conversion in behavior and physical language was deliberate, and an indication of the place where she was currently mentally.
“For me the main [thing] “I want to get out of this tournament is just a smile and enjoy. Yes, I mean, it’s one of the best players in the world. For me, frankly, I have more fun when I play against the best players. I love when they hit amazing clips or hit a landslide sending, because you know, so they won the championships they won.”
On Wednesday, Osaka 11 Mustova will face the quarter -finals. She has come a long run since she saw Muchova playing in the semi -finals two years ago, but also exactly where she always thought it would be again. Osaka, who described Mustova as “one of the most talented tennis players” on Monday, is known as a challenge. They have played twice since Osaka returned and divided the series. Osaka won his last meeting in three groups in the Australian Open Championship earlier this year.
Osaka is not defeated in the major quarter -finals during her career, but she was not pressing herself. It is expected to return to the top 20 again for the first time since 2022 after the US Open, regardless of how it was detonated on Wednesday or after, it is only enthusiastic about this opportunity.
“I really feel comfortable,” Osaka told reporters. “I don’t feel nervous at all. I think for me, I just wanted to spend a better year than last year, and I have already done so in Montreal. For me, whatever happens in the rest of this tournament, and the rest of Asia, I just try to be a player in better tennis and learn from every match I play.”