NEW YORK – Naomi Osaka is just 26 years old, yet we’ve already seen her in three distinct versions of her life.
The world wrapped its arms around Naomi 1.0, having never seen anything like her: Awkward but unflappable, a complete killer on court who was almost apologetic about how good she could hit a tennis ball.
The world didn’t know what to do with Naomi 2.0, a grown woman discovering her true self, leaning into social justice, but also struggling with her mental health and rebelling against the price of her fame.
And now it almost feels like the world has forgotten about Naomi 3.0 for one simple reason: After giving birth to a baby girl, she hasn’t won as many matches as she used to.
But that’s a mistake. Because even if Osaka never wins another Grand Slam title, even if she never wins another match, we’re getting the best version there’s ever been. We’re getting the version of Osaka that is playing tennis not because she needs to, but because she loves to. We’re getting the version that understands process is more important than results and isn’t spiraling into depression if things don’t go her way. We’re getting the version who is showing us just how much she appreciates the path she’s been on, no matter the wins or losses.
That journey hit a milestone on Tuesday when Osaka returned to the US Open and knocked out No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-2, with the kind of pinpoint power tennis she frequently played while collecting four Grand Slam titles between 2018 and 2021.
“Like, I really respect her as a player, so I knew I had to play very well from the very first point, so I just tried to do that,” Osaka said in her familiarly understated yet bubbly speaking style.
Of course, it was apparent that what she did Tuesday meant a whole lot more than that. After match point, Osaka closed her eyes and turned her face to the sky. She took a deep breath as the tears started forming. And after the standard handshake and acknowledgement of the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium, she buried her head in a towel and cried.
“I didn’t know if I’d be able to play again at this level,” Osaka said, bottom-lining why this experience was so emotional for a player whose tears in the past have rarely come after wins.
It’s easy to understand why.
Just a couple months after giving birth last year, Osaka came to the US Open to participate in a mental health forum and was in Arthur Ashe Stadium watching Coco Gauff play in the semifinals. As she watched that match, it both inspired and frightened her.
Though Osaka had always planned to play tennis again after her pregnancy, there was no way to know for sure whether a comeback would succeed. How would her body respond? As a new mother who had already accomplished so much in the sport, would she be up for the day-in, day-out grind it takes to compete? Would the hunger still be there after accomplishing so much in the sport? How would her game stack up two years later in a sport where things move quickly and the field only gets stronger?
In a sense, those concerns were realized almost as soon as she came back this January in Australia. If you took away the name Naomi Osaka, she was just another player: Win one here, lose one there, never really sustaining any momentum from one tournament to the next. Making a quarterfinal or even a round of 16 looked like a really good week. In fact, by the time Osaka got to Cincinnati a couple weeks ago, her ranking of No. 90 wasn’t even good enough to automatically get her into the main draw so she played the qualifying tournament – and lost in the second round.
But here’s the thing: At least she played. More important, she kept on playing every chance she got, even when – in her words – the results weren’t resulting.
Naomi 2.0, the version who felt so much pressure to be perfect, might have just withdrawn from all of it. Naomi 3.0 only wants more.
“I’m really glad I played all the tournaments this year even though the results haven’t been that great,” she said. “I feel like I could draw from each of those matches. Even though I lost in the qualies of Cincy, I gained confidence in myself in a weird way because that was like the worst possible outcome of my career. But it’s been so much hard work, so many dreams and wishes, and I hope I can continue. But as of right now I am really happy with how I played today.”
No need to make one match more than it is. No need to say right now that beating Ostapenko and playing an incredibly clean match is some kind of breakthrough. Osaka will play Karolina Muchova in the second round – the player she was watching Gauff compete against in last year’s semifinals – and it may turn out to be one more small step back before the season ends. Or maybe the floodgates will open and Osaka gets primed for a deep run here. Time will tell.
But here’s the really interesting thing about Osaka’s comeback. Despite just an 18-16 record on the year, her best matches have been against the best players. She was inches away from beating four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the second round of the French Open. She went toe-to-toe with recent Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen on grass in July, losing a tough three-setter. She’s had wins over No. 12 Daria Kasatkina and No. 22 Elena Svitolina, now adding her first top-10 win in four years.
“I’m not sure if it’s motivation or I feel like I have no other choice but to play well,” Osaka said. “It gets rid of all the expectations and the pressure I put on myself because no matter what, the tennis is going to be great tennis whether I win or lose. So that’s my mindset when I play seeded players or really good players.”
It shows there’s still something in there, some burning ember of the player she used to be just waiting to be lit aflame once again.
It’s too soon to say whether Naomi 3.0 can become a Grand Slam champion, but this version is going to be a lot more fun to watch — and a whole lot kinder to herself.
