Google News Naomi Osaka super tender when talks about Shai: "When I'm with her my mind clears"
by LORENZO CIOTTI
Naomi Osaka started playing in official matches again about a month ago, after a year spent out of the court due to her maternity leave. The Japanese played her last match against the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, at the Australian Open 2024, where she was eliminated by the former winner of the WTA Finals.
This week, Osaka will participate in the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi, where she will try to get points and, above all, accumulate pace, to rediscover her tennis after the long period of inactivity. Playing helps to play and get back into psycho-physical shape.
"I think right now I need to play as many games as possible. I'm learning to see that you can win every week and that the job is only in my hands. I'm still learning to deal with this problem, even though it was very difficult in Australia. This is the main reason why I am very angry.
My level is improving every day, I think and hope I can be better as the weeks go by. I'm always the type of person who prefers to set very high goals and, if I manage to reach even just 25%, that 25% will seem incredible to me. It would have been unrealistic to go back and say my goal was to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam," she told The National News.
In the first round in the United Arab Emirates, Naomi will face Danielle Collins. "I hope to improve my ranking and not have to face these great players in the first round, although right now if I play against the number one seed I still expect to win. I try not to make too many excuses," she explained.
Naomi shares tender words for her daughter Shai
The Japanese girl, in the same interview, also said how waking up and watching new videos of Shai is enough to make her feel rested again.
"When I can go home and spend a lot of time with her, my mind clears up completely. So I don't feel mentally exhausted or anything. I don't know what's going to happen later in the season, but I feel pretty optimistic about it. I don't know how to describe it. , but every day that I wake up and get new videos from Shai, I feel refreshed and I feel like, here's why," she told.
Well that was a cool little intermission, now back to your regularly scheduled program 🎾✌🏾💕 pic.twitter.com/M6jZXqbRMm
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) July 13, 2023