Article by Rickee Bhardwaj
Can Naomi Osaka finally win BIG on the clay?
Naomi Osaka is undoubtedly, aside from Serena Williams, the biggest star in women’s tennis, with a reach that far extends her day job. We have seen her become an outspoken activist as well as a fashion designer; she is young, marketable and has the trophies to prove it. However, the one facet of her on- court game that is proving elusive is her success on the formidable clay courts.
Her current record on clay is 51 wins to 35 losses as opposed to her far superior hard court record of 182 wins to 90 losses. This was evidenced in her complete domination at the 2021 Australian Open where she was quick to dispatch her opponents with her aggressive baseline play. She now holds two Australian Opens and two US Opens and at the age of 23 she looks set to maintain her stranglehold on the game for many years to come. Although, it still surprises many that Osaka has yet to win a title on clay and it would seem she still needs to make some adjustments to finally see victory at Roland Garros later this month. The tournament will start on the 24th May, having been pushed back due to lockdown restrictions. A myriad of factors means that the conditions at Roland Garros are much different to those on a hard court; they are much slower for one and generate a much higher bounce rendering big hitters such as Osaka ineffective. Even though she is an aggressive baseline player she has yet to truly assert herself on a clay court.
Osaka has unfortunately not made the ideal start at this week’s prestigious Madrid Open, in a shock to her fans, she lost to world number 20, Karolina Muchova in the second round. She was beat 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 after coming back to win the second set, she was soon broken however allowing Muchova to dominate proceedings in the third set.
In her post match conference Osaka was optimistic and explained that she is still trying to improve her game. The Japanese native said: ‘I’m learning that on clay I can’t afford to not swing through every ball, because that automatically takes me from offence to defence… And maybe if I start being able to move better I can risk starting to play on defence.’ Later via Twitter she also reflected: ‘I already know something good is coming for me so I’ll keep putting my head down and working hard. Tomorrow is a new day.’
So only time will tell whether Osaka can at long last break through on the clay but if history is anything to go by she is more than up for the challenge.
