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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 15, 2019

Naomi Osaka

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

N. OSAKA/M. Linette

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. There were a lot of points where you were running a lot. You were saying that your movement was one of the things you've been working on. Did today make you feel good?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, for me today I think it was more a test. I think I was testing myself on how well I can move.

Yeah, more than anything I was just enjoying my time.

Q. Very good serving day, especially behind your first serve. I know coming into the season there may have been concerns because you weren't serving much during the off-season. Are there any concerns in terms of the shoulder?
NAOMI OSAKA: No, I mean, my shoulder's fine now. But there's always a concern for me when I serve, and I have to fix this, but sometimes I don't know, like, how I'm going to feel when I step onto the line. Some days are really good, then some days are shaky.

Besides that, my shoulder's fine.

Q. What was it like playing your first match on that stadium? Did you get to soak it all in?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, it was super amazing. It's one of those moments where, because I've never played a night match here, I was just really happy. I'm not sure if it showed, but I was just trying to enjoy myself. I think everyone there was super nice. They were clapping and stuff, so I really loved the atmosphere.

Q. Did you watch any of Andy's match yesterday?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah.

Q. How did it make you feel watching the whole thing?
NAOMI OSAKA: Well, I watched until the end of the fourth set because I had to sleep to get ready for my match. But, yeah, I thought it was really amazing. The way that he was fighting for every point, like he was screaming and stuff. I thought that was very emotional. It kind of shows how he is as a player.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: For me, the first set I was more, like, watching how she would serve. In the second set, I sort of decided to step in more and see how she takes it. I thought that I played better being more aggressive, so I just decided to stay there after that.

Yeah, I mean, for me, I have been practicing dropshots a lot just for fun. I decided to play a few in the match because I think when I get in the position to either hit a winner, I think people start backing up anyways, so I think that in a way could also be considered a good shot to hit.

I had a lot of fun. It's not often that I get to play a night match at Rod Laver. For me, it was the first time. I didn't really feel nervous either, which was a bit unexpected. I thought that I would, being that it's the first match. Yeah, for me, I just felt like I had a lot of fun today.

I always practice hitting inside-out forehands. I don't necessarily, like, trust it that much. But I've been practicing a lot of things that I want to do more often now. You might see it more during my matches.

Wouldn't you like to know (smiling)? I don't know, I haven't weighed myself in a while. You shouldn't be asking people's weight like that (laughter). I don't know, though.

It was after the off-season when I practiced my serve a lot. Like when I was in Brisbane, that's when I started hitting more serves. During the off-season, my shoulder was a bit hurt so I couldn't.

For me, I'm aware of, like, people saying anyone in the top 10 can be No. 1 right now. But for me, that's not really my goal I think. I just want to play well in this tournament. I'll see how my ranking is after. Rankings were never that much of a concern for me.

Yeah, I don't really know who my next opponent is. I've never really seen her play. I think I need to watch a lot of matches tomorrow, just try to figure out what I'm going to do.

I didn't want to touch it. I don't know, for me, I'm not very good at, like, being gentle. I feel like I might have accidentally like stomped on it or something. I feel like all of the ball kids are kind of experienced in catching bugs now, so...

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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