January 21, (THEWILL) – After losing 4-6 6-3 7-6[5] to Amanda Anisimova in the third round of the Australian Open, Naomi Osaka told reporters that she is “not God” and that she can not be expected to win every match.
Prior to the competition, Osaka stated that she planned to concentrate on having fun while playing rather than scrutinising and stressing about her on-court performance.
In her post-match press conference, the two-time Australian Open champion was asked if she could take anything positive away from her performance on Margaret Court Arena.
The defending champion said: “Yeah, [I can take fun from the match] definitely. I think I fought for every point.
“I can’t be sad about that. You know, like I’m not God. I can’t win every match. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s really special and I can’t think of myself to try to win the Grand Slam at the start of the year every time.”
During her 5-7 7-6 (2) 6-4 loss to Canada’s Leylah Fernandez at the US Open in September, Osaka was obviously unhappy, and she stated that she would be retiring from tennis. The 24-year-old said, though, that she had an entirely different approach at the year’s first Grand Slam.
“For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude, so I’m really happy with – of course I lost – but I’m happy with how it went.”
Anisimova, who had previously defeated Arianne Hartono and Belinda Bencic, will now face world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the final 16 of the tournament.
“I’m speechless, I absolutely love playing in front of you guys [the crowd] in Melbourne, honestly it’s so much fun,” said Anisimova after the match.
“I can’t stop smiling even when I’m playing, even though I should be serious, I’m just laughing with what you guys say sometimes.
“I knew I had to be playing sharp if I wanted to give myself a chance, Naomi is always going to be playing well and she’s an absolute champion. I knew I had to step up my game and try to be aggressive, I think that’s what I started doing in the second set.
“I’m so grateful I was able to play so well today and get this win, it means a lot. Stepping on to the court, all I’m thinking about is having fun. Every single day here is an amazing opportunity and experience for me.”
In the quarter-finals, the winner of the match between Anisimova and Barty will face either Jessica Pegula or Maria Sakkari.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
