Naomi Osaka’s Grand Slam season came to a close on Monday in New York, as the four-time major champion fell to Elena Rybakina, 6-1, 6-4 in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Unfortunately for Osaka, she was dealing with an issue with her achilles, and had difficulty pushing off during the contest.
She later explained the injury to reporters in her post-match press conference.
“I was compromised,” she said. “The last match I played, I felt a lot in my leg. Then this morning, it just got a lot worse. I don’t know, I felt like I played the best that I could given the situation.
“The crowd was really, really into it, so it was fun. It was unfortunate, obviously, but yeah, life goes on.”
Osaka, who has not won a major since the 2021 Australian Open, still takes comfort in the fact that she produced career-best results at Roland Garros at Wimbledon.
“I started the year injured. I don’t know if this counts as ending the year injured, but I definitely learned a lot about myself, about my tennis,” she said.
“I got the furthest that I’ve ever gotten in the French and in Wimbledon. You know, hopefully I can continue to build on that and just play more matches with these really good players, because I feel like I need those under my belt.”
Another bright spot? She took her creativity to the next level with her splashy walk on kits at every Slam. She called her way of having fun and exciting herself at the Slams.
In the end, the 28-year-old says that as she ages, losing always stings, but it becomes less and less difficult to handle.
“Honestly, I’m not disappointed now,” she said. “It’s a very strange feeling, I think, and last year I wasn’t that disappointed either, because Amanda just played really insane (she lost to Anisimova in the semifinals last year in New York).
“Maybe I’m just getting older, but I don’t feel sad.”
Great. Match