	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 5, 2019

Naomi Osaka

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

L. TSURENKO/N. Osaka

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions in English, first. First question.

Q. Naomi, that game where you a couple of aces to serve match points. Did you feel like that could have been the start of something better today?
NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, for me, there was a game that I had two break points. I felt like, for me, that was more possibly a turning point. But the game that I saved match point, I just felt like I was somehow staying in the match, not necessarily like -- I mean, of course I would have loved to win the next game, but the entire set I haven't like broken her. So I just felt more like I was trying to stay in the match.

Q. You had game points, like you said in the sixth game of that set. What did you feel like let you down on those big moments?
NAOMI OSAKA: Like if I'm being really frank, I just feel like I had like the worst attitude today. I feel like I didn't really know how to cope with not playing well. So, I don't know, like I was sulking a little bit, and like there are moments that I tried not to do that. But then the ball wouldn't go in, and then I would go back to being like childish and stuff. So I think like that was sort of my main problem today.

I mean, I feel like last year I did a lot of that, and I'm trying to change it more, and I think I have, like towards the end of last year. So hopefully this isn't like a reoccurring thing.

Q. If you're watching a replay of the match, do you focus on those points where you feel like you're sulking and try to work out strategies when you're not playing of how to deal with it during a match?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah. I mean, I don't necessarily like watching myself play because I do notice that like my attitude is down, and I know that people don't like to watch people that are so negative. And that's sort of my main thing, too. But I think regarding strategies for me, it's always -- like if the ball doesn't go in, like I felt like I had no control over the ball today. So there is two paths that I can take. Usually, one is to like hit everything. And then another one is to run everything down. And usually I pick the hitting part first and then the running later, and I think I need to switch that around.

Q. Did you feel all right in warmup or was it really when the match started that you felt funny?
NAOMI OSAKA: No. I felt in the warmup, too, that something was off, and I thought maybe it was the string. But Sascha said that like when he was hitting with me, like he felt that I was hitting fine. So I thought maybe it was just something that is in my control. But I mean, of course I felt nervous and I thought it was something that would go away, but it didn't.

Q. Naomi, obviously you've been playing semifinals and finals lately, but does it still feel new, that experience of getting that deep in a tournament, because before Indian Wells it wasn't as common, even before the US Open. It's been a recent phenomenon. So are the nerves maybe the same or harder, the same to deal with in the semis?
NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, it's different. It's like before, I would just be nervous to be there in a way, and now I feel nervous because I think I should win, like I'm the higher ranked player, and I feel like people expect me to win. So that's like an added amount of nerves. But, I mean, I feel like I'm getting used to it, hopefully.

Q. So do you think an experience like today is a good one to get out of the way before the Australian Open? I mean you go in as the ranking Grand Slam champion. Do you take a lot of positives -- or any positives out of what happened today, learn from it?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah. I mean, I feel like in a way that this experience for me is better than winning the tournament, because like this helpless feeling I have, I think today I learned sort of what I have to do to not fix it, but what I can do to like improve the situation. So there aren't many moments that I feel like that. But, yeah, I mean I feel like today was a very valuable lesson.

Q. And where to from here, Naomi?
NAOMI OSAKA: That's currently a debate. I have to talk to everyone.

Q. Do you think you will be going to Sydney, Naomi?
NAOMI OSAKA: I'm not really sure yet.

Q. Just from a physical standpoint, three matches. I mean did your body hold up? Nothing hurts or achy or niggly?
NAOMI OSAKA: No. I mean in the beginning of the tournament it did, but somehow it got better the longer it went on. So, yeah, I feel fine.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297