Naomi Osaka dreams of winning gold for Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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Naomi Osaka press conference

She has two Grand Slam titles to her name and is a former world No 1, but Naomi Osaka hopes to add another honour to her resume by winning gold at next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

At the age of 21, Osaka has already ticked off a lot of things from her list as she won the 2018 US Open and followed it up with the Australian Open at the start of the year with the latter victory also propelling her to the top of the world rankings.

Although she has struggled in recent months, Osaka is setting her sights high for the 2020 Games in her home country as she wants to end up on the top step of the podium.

“I do think about winning gold and it would mean a lot if I was able to achieve that and win a gold medal because you dream of such moments,” she told ITFWorld.

“When you are a kid you don’t dream of silver or bronze. Even though winning silver or bronze is an incredible achievement, every athlete wants gold and it has always been something that I have imagined.

“Winning gold would be the biggest thing I would have achieved in my career, although in some ways that is simply because of timing. I contest Grand Slams every year but an Olympic Games is only once every four years so there are not many opportunities to become an Olympic champion.

“Everyone who competes at the Olympics wants to be an Olympic champion, so that would be my aim.”

She added: “Representing Japan at an Olympic Games and winning gold for Japan would mean so much.

“Technically, I represent Japan at every tournament but I do think the Olympics is going to be different and will be a very big memory for me.”

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Naomi Osaka

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