By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, August 27, 2019
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous in my life,” said Naomi Osaka after her opening-round win.
Photo credit: @USOpen
NEW YORK—Tapping her gold racquet against the back blue wall, Naomi Osaka took some shadow swings as if trying to stabilize her strokes.
In an up-and-down performance popping with jitters and jolting strikes, Osaka’s shots were sometimes unreliable but her spirit was strong.
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The defending US Open champion rallied from a 1-4 deficit to defeat Anna Blinkova, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2, and reach the second round.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous in my life,” Osaka told ESPN’s Rennae Stubbs afterward. “She played really amazing. And for me, I came off really slow. I never really found my rhythm. I fought as hard as I could and I managed to win.”
The world No. 1 defending a Grand Slam title for the first time and aiming to become the first woman to defend Flushing Meadows since her tennis hero, Serena Williams, won three in a row from 2012 to 2014.
Osaka served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but could not close. Despite the mis-step, she survived a tough test and tried to draw the positives from a two hour, 27-minute triumph.
“It helps me a lot because I learn from the tougher matches,” Osaka said. “It helps me to learn and be prepared and try to adjust my game plan through the match.”
Our Top 5 takeaways from Osaka’s opening-round win.
Erratic Early, Emphatic Close
In some ways, this match was a microcosm of Osaka’s season. There was stretches of superb shot-making and explosiveness and periods of patchy play where she just couldn’t keep the ball between the lines.
The top seed scattered 50 unforced errors—28 more than her opponent—and served just 48 percent in the opening set.
Blinkova’s bid for her first career win over a world No. 1 began with plenty of promise and ambitious deep drives as she snatched a 4-1 lead as an out of sorts Osaka could not find the range. Still, Osaka reeled off five straight games to snatch the first set and rolled to a 4-1 lead in the decider.
"I think there were moments where I played really well, and then moments where, I mean, I didn't play as well," Osaka said. "I think as a whole, I just need to learn how to stay more consistent on the good side. But I didn't really expect myself to play amazing today. And I knew it was going to be a really tough battle.
"The only thing I would have wished is that I won the first match point."
Nerves are natural for any defending Grand Slam champion, and jitters even more understandable given it is Osaka’s first attempt to defend a major. Still, Osaka hasn’t put many complete matches together in recent months and player her fourth consecutive three-setter today.
Contrast that to last year, where Osaka surrendered just one set in seven matches en route to her first US Open title.
Knee Test
Wearing a black brace wrapping her left knee, Osaka was able to push up and out on serve. She showed no signs of restricted mobility, digging out some fine running forehands and looked quicker off the mark as the match progressed.
Osaka sustained the knee injury in the Cincinnati quarterfinals where she pulled the plug on her quarterfinal trailing Sofia Kenin, 0-2, in the final set.
In recent practice sessions, Osaka had not looked as confident pushing off her left leg but today the knee did not appear to be an issue during some of the more physical rallies.
Favorable Fast Track
The faster Flushing Meadows hard court plays to Osaka’s strengths. She showed the ability to dictate with her first serve—Osaka hammered eight aces against one double fault—take the first strike with her forehand and change direction driving the ball down the line.
On Ashe Stadium, Osaka can get her body behind the ball and really use her hip and shoulder turn and live, loose arm to crack the ball. In contrast, her footwork wasn’t quite as precise, especially on the backhand, in her Wimbledon opening-round los to No. 39 Yulia Putintseva or her Roland Garros third-round setback to Katerina Siniakova.
Osaka’s comfort level on hard courts is clear: She improved to 12-2 lifetime at the US Open and is 13-3 at the Australian Open.
Champ’s Challenges
Clearly, the biggest questions Osaka faces this week are can her cranky knee hold up and how will she cope with the pressure of life as defending champion?
She survived the first test but also showed vulnerability in the front court where Osaka won just three of nine net points.
Look for opponents to try to drag her forward with short angles, dip passes at her feet and force her to volley more often.
Who’s Next?
Next up for the two-time Grand Slam champion is a second-round date vs. a red-hot Magda Linette, who stopped Australian Astra Sharma, 6-3, 6-4, in her opener.
It was Linette’s ninth straight win in New York. She won three rounds of qualifying en route to the Bronx title last week where she beat Blinkova, 7-6, 7-6. Osaka has split two career meetings with Linette, posting a 6-4, 6-2, win in the Australian Open first round in January.