Naomi Osaka: To Be Human - Issue #6

Naomi Osaka has transcended tennis, but can she climb her way back to the top of the sport?

Written by Dove Sallow

Four years ago, a bright-eyed and intriguingly shy girl from Japan set fire to the tennis world when she defeated the great Serena Williams at the US Open. Not only because her tennis was some of the best we’d seen in a long time, but also because of the controversy and drama that surrounded that match. For those who don’t remember, Serena got into a heated argument with the umpire that led to Naomi being awarded a break of serve to serve for the match. This moment went down as one of the most controversial moments in Grand Slam history, but so much of that is due to how Naomi Osaka was able to carry herself and build on that moment. During the awards ceremony, the stadium was filled with boos and negativity. Naomi pointedly pulled her visor down over her eyes, seemingly to escape from the moment. It seemed as though her grand slam moment was ruined, before Serena stepped in and told the audience to stop booing. From that moment forward, Naomi has developed global admiration and support. Tennis fans fell in love with her shyness and quirkiness. They respect the fact that she’s a gentle person, but also a serious athlete. Her reach doesn’t stop with tennis. She is now a global icon and one of the most adored athletes of our time. She’s won four grand slams (2 US Opens and 2 Australian Opens), has made 21,177,252 million dollars in career earnings, and is the highest-paid female athlete ever, all at the age of 24. But things seem to have slowed down for Naomi, tennis-wise, and many would like to know why.

With the 2022 season coming to an end and no tournaments on schedule for Naomi Osaka, her year-end ranking will be outside the top 40. She played a decent amount of tennis during the hard and clay court seasons, but the results just weren’t there for her. She lost in the 3rd round of the Australian Open, 1st round of Roland Garros, and in the 1st round of the US Open. She did make a final in Miami, but was denied by current world #1 Iga Swiatek (6-4, 6-0). Most notably, she lost in the 2nd round of Indian Wells to Veronika Kudermetova and was bothered by a heckler in the audience. Naomi addressed the crowd after the loss, saying the incident reminded her of what happened to Venus and Serena at the same tournament many years ago. Whether you support Naomi or not, it’s admirable how open she has been when talking about her mental health struggles. She is leading the charge for modern athletes, but at the end of the day, an athlete of her caliber should be winning a lot of matches. She did not play anywhere near the level she’s capable of this year. Could it be because of mental health struggles? Or has she lost interest in the game?

I don’t think anyone would argue that when Naomi is at her best, she is the best ball-striker and server on tour. Her forehand is one of the flattest and hardest shots on tour, while still being incredibly accurate. When her serve is firing, there are shades of Serena in her prime. Her backhand is also a flat, compact stroke that she can hit winners with from anywhere on the court. When watching any of her matches this year, it’s clear to see that the talent hasn’t gone anywhere. But there are some areas of her game that I believe have regressed.

Most recently, her match against Danielle Collins at the US Open highlighted the strategical/problem solving aspect of her game. Everyone knows that Collins has one of the best backhands on tour, if not the best. Naomi repeatedly hit to Collins’ backhand and got burned on that side throughout the entire match. She was insistent on hitting second serves to the Collins backhand as well, and Collins attacked repeatedly. Collins’ backhand return of serve is what propelled her to the Australian Open final at the beginning of the year. Generally, players and coaches know to avoid hitting to that side. It seemed like Naomi was reluctant to change tactics, and it’s unclear why. Strategically, this was one of the weakest matches Naomi’s played in years.

Another area of Naomi’s game that has suffered this year is her movement. Obviously, she is a world-class athlete, so she is not out of shape by any means. But movement has never been her strong suit. Naomi is at her most dangerous when she’s on the front foot, hugging the baseline, and dictating play with an iron fist. But when she was at her best not too long ago, her movement was efficient enough to keep her in long rallies until she had the opportunity to be aggressive and play the way she wants to play. She had some grueling rallies against Garbiñe Muguruza in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open. It was a slug-fest on a fast hard court, but Naomi had to play a considerable amount of defense to keep up with Muguruza’s pace of shot and even had to save match points. She went onto win the tournament and was moving as well as I’ve ever seen her move. While her movement has never been a weapon, it has turned into a glaring weakness this year. Coco Gauff highlighted that weakness in the 2nd round of San Jose, where she defeated Naomi 6-4, 6-4. Coco is one of the best movers on tour, so this was bound to be a tricky matchup for Naomi. But Naomi’s had success against her before and was able to shorten points and dictate play in her previous victories. Given the state of her movement this year, her serve was not where it needed to be to win the match. Coco served incredibly well and Naomi struggled to keep up. Because of how good Coco was on her own serve, Naomi was unable to get on top of a lot of the rallies and Coco dragged her all over the court. Coco dictated with precision and consistency, keeping Naomi on the run for the vast majority of the match.

While Naomi’s serve is still one of the most dangerous on tour, it hasn’t been there for her when she’s needed it during the big points. The serve is such a rhythmic shot for any player, and when you lose confidence in your serve, it can be tricky to find it again. Aryna Sabalenka is a classic example of this. She was hitting double faults in double digit numbers during several matches at the beginning of the year. The confidence was completely gone, so her serve went haywire. Naomi’s serving issues haven’t been anywhere near that drastic, but her serve hasn’t been the weapon she needs it to be to win grand slams. In both of the matches I mentioned previously, Naomi was unable to consistently get enough cheap points out of her serve. And the easy confidence of knowing that she could erase a few break points with the wave of her racquet seems to be gone as well. Her motion is fluid and just about as picture-perfect as one can get. She gets great knee-bend and leg action. Her ball toss is well-disguised. There’s no reason her serve can’t be the weapon it used to be, but she needs to find her belief in it again. Whenever she used to be down break point, or even match point, you could almost always count on her hitting an ace in Serena-like fashion. When Naomi’s serve is working, the rest of her game falls into place. But without it, she looks lost on the court.

I really believe Naomi should be playing a full schedule to get back to the top of the sport. With weapons like hers, she could be breaking records and writing her own history. But she needs to play more matches. For starters, many of her early exits in major tournaments this year were due to her not being seeded. She needs to get her ranking up so she has the chance to work her way into a tournament. Drawing Amanda Anisimova early in Australia & Paris is really not ideal. Drawing Danielle Collins in the first round of New York is also terrible luck, but if she were seeded like she should be, she wouldn’t be getting these kinds of draws. Playing more matches would also solve a lot of the current problems she’s been dealing with. It’s hard to rebuild confidence in your serve when you don’t have match wins under your belt. It’s difficult to have the stamina/movement to keep up in long rallies when your opponents are playing a full schedule week in and week out. And the ability to problem solve your way through a match only comes with playing a lot of matches. Most of these issues are like muscle memory, but Naomi needs to play more matches to access that muscle memory. She hasn’t played a match on grass in 3 years. I realize it’s been a difficult surface for her to figure out, but the answer to this is not avoiding the grass court season. She should be playing the grass court swing every year until she becomes a dominant force. With her serve and flat groundstrokes, she should be a Wimbledon champion. There’s always a learning curve for every player when they first start playing on grass, but she needs to accept that learning curve for what it is. Accept the process. Struggle with it, grow with it, and conquer it.

It feels strange to analyze and critique the career of one of the most talented tennis players we’ve seen in the last 20 years. Who am I to be telling a four-time grand slam champion what to do with her career? Why should anyone, for that matter, tell Naomi Osaka how to manage her career? They shouldn’t. But as a fan of the sport, it’s difficult to watch this generational talent perform well below her capabilities. For all the joy she’s brought to our TV screens, Naomi has brought positivity and clarity to so many who struggle with their mental health. She’s one of the first athletes to let people know it’s okay not to be okay. It’s normal to struggle, and it should also be normal to talk about those struggles and to know you’re not alone. But perhaps the biggest challenge Naomi is facing is that she’s not just a tennis player. The world wants a piece of her and I can’t imagine what it’s like to balance all the things that go on throughout her day-to-day life. She’s a symbol for what it means to be different, quirky, and human. For the endearing and loving person she is, I would like to see Naomi Osaka succeed in tennis again. She is a once-in-a-life-time talent, but whether or not she wants to be at the top of the sport again, is entirely up to her. As usual, this match will be decided on her racquet.