Naomi Osaka +7 in rankings with win on her favourite surface – ‘I really love hard courts’
Naomi Osaka kick-started her North American hard-court swing with a comfortable win over Ons Jabeur at the Canadian Open and she feels her win was “a long time coming”.
Former world No 1 Osaka has made no secret of her love for hard courts as she has won her four Grand Slam titles on the surface and many believe the WTA Tour will get to see the “real Osaka” in the next two months as she looks to continue her rise in the rankings after returning from maternity leave.
That rise has already been impressive as she started the year outside the top 800 after missing the 2023 campaign, but her latest win in Canada will see her jump another seven places to No 88 in Live Rankings.
Osaka needed a wildcard to play in the main draw of the WTA 1000 event, but her performance against Jabeur suggests she is not too far away from her best and could soon enter tournaments on her ranking.
Her 6-3, 6-1 win over the world No 16 is her fifth over a top 20 player since she returned to action at the start of the year.
“Everyone knows I really love hard courts. I wasn’t thinking too much. It felt instinctual. Honestly when I play the best players like Ons, I tend to play better. So I think that helped me out,” she said.
She added: “I think if you’ve followed my journey a little I kind of go through mountains and hills. Now I’m feeling quite confident in myself as a person and a player. I think that showed a little.”
WTA Facts & Stats Features
The 5 women with the most Canadian Open titles: Two legends tied for 1st, Serena Williams 3rd
Up next is Elise Mertens and Osaka feels her results are thanks to the hard work she is putting in.
“I’ve had so many matches on hard court under my belt, and I learned a lot from my last match on hard, which was against [Caroline] Garcia in Miami,” she said.
“It was a little bit of a long time coming, but I’m really glad to be back on hard. I think even the way that I return now, I took from clay, so I hope that I can keep implementing things that I’ve learned over the months.”
Osaka also credited one of the newer members to her team Simone Elliott – the wife of fitness trainer Florian Zitzelsberger.
Elliott has not only helped with the mental side of things, but as a former ballerina, she is teaching Osaka new tricks.
“I think Simone’s helped my movement a lot. She’s also kind of my mental coach. I said kind of, but she actually is my mental coach,” the four-time major champion said.
“I haven’t gotten injured this entire time and I want to thank her for that, her and Flo [Zitzelsberger].
“I’ve been doing ballet lessons with her, so I told her one of my goals is to do the really famous [Kim] Clijsters and Serena [Williams] split forehand, so hopefully maybe in the next couple of months, if you see it on the court, just know we’ve been working very hard on it.”
