Open defeat on Monday extended her wait for another Grand Slam title, but she put the setback into perspective, saying motherhood and life beyond tennis had changed how she viewed success. The Japanese player won the last of her four major titles at the Australian Open in 2021, before stepping away from the sport and giving birth to daughter Shai three years ago. Despite encouraging results since returning to the tour, including a U.S.
Open semifinal and Wimbledon quarterfinal, Osaka said so much had happened in her life that the drought felt both long and short. There’s a lot that happened in that time,” Osaka said after her 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Elena Rybakina. That’s crazy that I can say that, because I remember the first slam that I won, it was a huge whirlwind.
I think it wouldn’t feel as long.” Osaka won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 2018, repeating the feat in 2020. She claimed another major at Melbourne Park in 2019.
The 28-year-old, who had to manage an Achilles injury in her loss to Rybakina on Monday, said she was continuing to learn from her defeats. I’m sad that I couldn’t do what I had set out to do,” she added. I had an opportunity to play this slam.
So it’s only up from here.”
Extract — continue reading at the source.
