By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday March 17, 2021

Naomi Osaka is already a dominant force on the WTA Tour, but she hasn’t yet expanded her empire to the clay and grass. A quick glance at the stats shows that she is 10-7 lifetime at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon combined, and she has lost all five of her third-round matches at those two majors.



Osaka hasn’t beaten a Top 20 player (0-4) at either Slam and she simply doesn’t have the reps on either surface—or the comfort that comes with it.

But Martina Navratilova believes that things can change quickly for Osaka. She told Tennis Now, during a conference call to promote Tennis Channel’s first ball to last ball coverage of the Miami Open, that the surfaces play more similarly than ever these days.

“The potential is there, no doubt about it,” Navratilova said. “The surfaces are much more similar than they used to be. Grass is slower, clay is faster, the balls are faster. You don't have to make nearly as much of an adjustment as you used to.”

Navratilova says that Osaka simply needs to get more comfort in her movement to be successful on clay.

“I don't see Naomi being that confident with her sliding,” she said. “But then Andre Agassi won the French Open without sliding. It can be done. But it just makes life easier when you slide and you're comfortable with timing with your strokes.”

For the first time, @TennisChannel will be the exclusive home of the @MiamiOpen from start to finish -- first ball through the end of championship weekend, March 23-April 4: https://t.co/zXoufSuXmL

— TennisChannelPR (@TennisChannelPR) March 17, 2021