The smile returned to Naomi Osaka's face.
At this time last year, Naomi Osaka finished second in the WTA standings. But after a year of controversy, the Japanese girl has now slipped to 36th.
The Madrid Open gave her a wild card, and her current rankings are no longer guaranteed a seeding spot, with the first round taking on Anastasia Potapova, who won the istanbul Open last week.
Before the start of the main tournament, the 4-time Grand Slam champion participated in the pre-match press conference held on the 28th local time. She thanked the organizing committee for the wild card, but also spoke openly about what she had experienced in the past, including the multiple problems of depression and how she had solved it now.
She said that there have been a lot of sad and regretful parts in the past year, but she doesn't regret it because she has grown from it, and that's the most important thing.
Naomi Osaka prepares for the Madrid Open.
Embrace the past, embrace the mistakes
After losing to Ija Swatak in the Miami Open final, Naomi Osaka did not compete in any competitions, choosing instead to train clay courts for the Madrid Open, the Rome Open and the French Open.
This week, she arrived in Madrid early and was one of the first players to enter the "Magic Box" stadium for training.
"There were moments in the past that were sad and I wish they hadn't happened, but I'm glad they happened. I feel like they allow me to grow and help me gain experience in dealing with future events that may or may not happen. ”
"I'm trying to learn to embrace the past, embrace mistakes, and not put too much pressure on myself. There aren't so many perfect moments in life, and there are a lot of things I need to learn, such as now I keep talking to a counselor at least once a week. ”
"She taught me some useful knowledge and thinking angles, and let me know that there are all kinds of pains in life, and their role is to help me progress as an ordinary person."
Over the past few years, along with rising achievements and popularity, the young Naomi Osaka has begun to work hard to turn herself into a spokesperson for the vulnerable, which she believes is the responsibility given to her by the times – while enjoying the privileges of top professional players, she hopes to use this privilege to do things that are beneficial to the promotion of social development.
However, she soon encountered the "recoil" generated by the collision of idealism and the real world, and this powerful reverse force made her emotions collapse several times.
Fortunately, she slowly saw that Svatek would bring a counselor to the tour, and other girls would have regular psychological counseling, and at the beginning of this year, she began to follow the advice of her sister Mari Osaka and coach Wim Fisset, and had her own fixed counselor, which alleviated her pressure to some extent.
"Now, I'm learning to embrace all the possibilities in life. I'll do some mental training to reduce the amount of time I spend on social networking sites. People can say bad things to me, but I will continue to be myself. ”
If you can't change others, you have to face it positively
Naomi Osaka hopes that she will not care so much about other people's opinions, and is working this road. However, in the early days of working with counselors, what happened in the second round of the Indian Wells Open once broke her to tears.
In that match, Naomi Osaka was broken by Kudmetova in the first set. In the second inning, just as she was about to receive the hair, a female fan shouted from the audience: "Throw her out!" Naomi, you sxxk (Naomi, you suck). ”
She dropped that set and couldn't stop crying before her second serve began. After being broken again, the Japanese girl communicated with the referee during the break, hoping to find the person who scolded her, but the latter said that he could not do anything about it. She could only silently cheer herself up and then get back on the pitch.
However, when she lost the whole game 0-6, 4-6, the organizing committee gave her the opportunity to speak out.
"To be honest, I've been booed before and that didn't really bother me. But here is booed... I've seen the video of Venus and Selena (Big and Small) being booed here, and if you haven't seen it, you should check it out. I don't know why, it just came to my mind and played over and over again... I tried not to cry. ”
Naomi Osaka is gradually recovering.
In Madrid, she spoke again to reporters about the moment.
"At any given moment, I probably wouldn't let it affect me, but..." Then she thought about the answer — because you can't control what other people say and do, so "always face yourself and face life with a positive attitude."
Two-time US Open women's singles champion Trish Austin admired Naomi Osaka's attitude and said she would be proud of the Japanese girl she is now, because she bravely faced the most difficult problem in her life and was willing to change it.
"How you see yourself, how you look at the game and whether you have the belief to win depends on your brain. So, if you realize you need help, be brave enough to speak up and be brave enough to ask for help. ”
"Sometimes, one more person on the team gets a little more support and courage."
Naomi Osaka takes on Swatak (left) at the Miami Open.
In Madrid "stealing" Nadal
In Madrid, Naomi Osaka is about to embark on the tour again to take on Russian teenager Potapova, born in 2001.
Clay is not a venue she is good at, but the Japanese girl said that her recent efforts have not only improved on a psychological level, but also on a technical level, especially after she watched a lot of clay masters train, especially Nadal.
"I saw him and then dreamed of 'stealing' all of Nadal's talent on clay courts. In fact, I have begun to learn these techniques from him, but sometimes it goes well, sometimes it is very bad. ”
"However, I think I can learn things very quickly, and it would be a waste to miss the training of these players in such a situation."
Compared with the usual Naomi Osaka, who looks cold and even refuses to be thousands of miles away, she seems to have brought the liveliness of social networking sites to real life. She says she likes to watch high-level players train on clay courts and then apply her experience to her own tennis.
She even joked that she had started hitting the ball with her left hand in training "because every kid wants to be Nadal".
Naomi Osaka finished second in Miami.
In addition to Nadal, she was asked by Spanish journalists about Carlos Alcaraz, who has soared this season.
The latter moved to 9th place in the ATP table this week, winning the Rio Open, the Miami Open and the Barcelona Open this season.
"I think his presence has brought a lot of new stuff to the ATP Tour that we haven't seen in a long time." In Miami at the end of March, Naomi Osaka and Alcaraz reached the women's singles and men's singles finals, respectively. The difference was that the Japanese girl lost to Svatek in the final, while the Spanish teenager defeated Gaspar Rudd.
"Every time I watch him play, I forget his age and can't help but think: 'Wow, that's cool too'. I've been following him since last year's WIN at the US Open and watching almost every game. Seeing him grow up so quickly, in fact, each of us can't help but get excited. ”
Indeed, the rapid growth and excitement that was once there also belonged to Naomi Osaka herself.
Source: The Paper