The first test of Naomi Osaka’s new approach to tennis might have been when she completely whiffed an overhead to give her opponent a break point on the first day of the no-Novak Djokovic Australian Open.
Osaka didn’t throw her racket. She didn’t roll her eyes. She smiled. “There are situations where I previously would get upset. But at this point in my life, like, I’m here because I want to be here and because I find that its fun for me,” Osaka said. “Might as well enjoy it while I still can.”
In Osaka’s mind, the drama involving nine-time champion Djokovics deportation on the eve of the Australian Open was something for the players in the men’s draw to worry about. Her title defence began smoothly enough: She won the first five games on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Camila Osorio.
With so much attention on the 11-day saga of Djokovic’s attempt to participate in the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the returns of Osaka and Rafael Nadal have been overshadowed.
Osaka wasn’t bothered by that. Nadal didn’t seem to be put off by it, either, renewing his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam singles title with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Marcos Giron.
Nadal is tied with Djokovic and Roger Federer with 20 major singles titles each, the most in the history of men’s tennis. With Djokovic unable to defend his crown in Melbourne because he didn’t meet Australias strict Covid-19 vaccination criteria, the door is slightly more ajar to Nadal.
Osaka’s main concern, meanwhile, is winning a third Australian title in four years. “To be com-pletely honest, it didn’t really affect me,” Osaka said of the Djokovic drama. “My goal, like even before this whole situation, is to just focus on my-self more, what I need to do to become better.
“Me, I’m a tennis player. Ill focus on my matches. You as, I guess, an audience, focus on whatever is in the news, no?”
A potential fourth-round meeting with top-ranked Ash Barty could be waiting. Barty, aiming to be the first Australian woman to win the title in Melbourne since 1978, beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-0, 6-1.
Osaka, after winning the title last year, pulled out of the French Open before the second round, then sat out Wimbledon. She played at the Tokyo Olympics, where she lit the cauldron, but ended her 2021 season early after a third-round loss and a teary news conference at the US Open. Two of her goals for 2022 are to stay completely composed on the court and off, and to enjoy the game.
And, yes, finally, the focus was on tennis in Australia. It got started in a big way, with a com-bined 64 singles matches on opening day.
French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari, 15th seed Elina Svito-lina and two-time Australian Open champion Victo-ria Azarenka all advanced.
Two young American contenders went out in the first round, with 2020 Australian Open cham-pion Sofia Kenin losing 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 to Madison Keys and 18th seed Coco Gauff saving five match points before losing 6-4, 6-2 to Wang Qiang.—AFP
