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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 5, 2019

Naomi Osaka

Madrid, Spain

N. OSAKA/D. Cibulkova.

6-2, 7-6.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. How do you feel about your match today?
NAOMI OSAKA: For me, I'm just happy to get through it. I feel the most nervous during the first round and to play against Cibulkova was kind of tough for me, especially on clay. The other two times I played her was on hard. Yeah, I feel, like -- all in all it was a good match and I didn't feel my ab flare up, so that is a positive note.

Q. Just having to battle back in each one of those sets, what were you trying to tell yourself because it seemed like, especially on the second serve, you didn't want to give her too many looks there, but that obviously puts a lot of pressure on the first serve?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean -- I don't know. I was just thinking, like, honestly, the match I played against Donna helped me a lot mentally. I was thinking it's fine if I'm down 2-0 because I have been down 5-1 before and I have come back so I just need to stay calm.

Yeah, I was -- I was also kind of thinking, like, there is nowhere else I'd rather be and honestly I train for these moments so I have to give it 100 percent.

Q. The next round you will play a Spaniard, either one of them, very familiar with clay and how to play on it. What do you think are the challenges of playing maybe somebody who has a little bit more experience with the surface than you?
NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I guess they know how to move better so the points will be longer. I feel like this is my third year on clay, so if I'm not experienced now, I don't think I'll ever be.

Q. Talking about movement, you mentioned last year that you kind of didn't like sliding as much on clay as you do on hard-courts. Just how are you feeling about that aspect of it now?
NAOMI OSAKA: Well, for me it's fun now. I'm like skip, skip (laughing)! Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's, like, an adjustment period for me and it took a few years. But now I'm more comfortable on it. I'm not sure if it's because I had a really long training block before I came to start the season, but yeah, it feels good.

Q. So, just a non-tennis-related question. How much do you pay attention, or have you paid attention over the course of your long life to the Met Gala? And is that something because it's happening tomorrow, so I'm curious your thoughts on that? Is that an event that you would like to attend one day, or is it an event that looks terrifying to go to?
NAOMI OSAKA: A little bit of both (laughing). I I feel like it would be fun to go to, but then I would have to talk to people and we all know that I don't like doing that (smiling). It looks really, like, you have to do it once in your life if you have the chance. And I pay attention to it because I like clothes so seeing like -- it's usually Rhianna, she usually does something crazy and she is always really beautiful. I pay attention to it only to see everyone's outfits.

Q. An extremely personal question. How did you become a big DS fan?
NAOMI OSAKA: I thought you were going to say something else (laughing)! Well, I got into -- I don't know if I mention these people you are going to know them. I got into (Indiscernible) and 21, especially CL. I want to say, like -- I don't know the year, sort of like when Crush and stuff came out. And then I just saw like (indiscernible) doing a lot of related stuff so I was like who are these kids? Then I slowly started getting into them during the I Need U era. I don't know if you know this at all.

Q. He does!
NAOMI OSAKA: Oh really? Then I kind of was watching everything they did ever since.

Q. Will you go and see them?
NAOMI OSAKA: I really want to, but I don't know if the dates line up.

Q. I guess your visor looked a little bit different today so congratulations on the partnership. So in terms of the -- what's it like to be you right now, to kind of have these major companies be reaching out to you and wanting to partner with you and kind of work with you and what should we expect with MasterCard?
NAOMI OSAKA: For me, I just focus on playing tennis. Thankfully, I have a really awesome agent and he sort of deals with more of that stuff for me. It's -- I'm super-honored that I got the opportunity to do this and to wear the patch on my visor. Yeah, just looking forward to a lot of clothes stuff because the official announcement's, like, during the French Open.

THE MODERATOR: Any left in English?

Q. Is there any, like, random other type of sponsorship deals that you would want, like an official popcorn partner or something? Anything that would make your life much easier?
NAOMI OSAKA: Water, I drink a lot of water. Yeah, maybe water or something that I use a lot. Contact solution (laughing). I don't know!

Q. I want to know how do you feel here in Madrid, what is your opinion about the court and the people from Madrid? Thank you.
NAOMI OSAKA: For me, this is my third time here. The other two times I lost in the first round so I haven't really had the chance to get a big impression, but whenever I come here, everyone is super nice, it feels really good, and I don't know, it feels very rustic, compared to where I'm from, and it just nice to walk around and feel that energy so that's sort of my opinion on Madrid. I think everyone's always really like when I play, everyone's really hyped so I think that that is cool, especially for tennis.

THE MODERATOR: We will switch over to Japanese.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese).

NAOMI OSAKA: I didn't feel my ab during the match. I still have to, like, do treatment after, but I think it's really positive because if I did feel something during the match, of course I would have continued, but it wouldn't have looked good. But for now, I feel fine, so I think it's good.

(Smiling) Yeah, I mean, she was hitting a lot of drop shots and I then started to feel bad because I was like, wow... like I don't look good right now. I was like -- I have been doing a lot of physical training, you know, like running and stuff and now I'm supposed to be getting to these and then I saw him staring at me and I'm, like, sorry (laughing)!

Yeah, I think I was really smarter because I feel like side to side I'm pretty good at, like reading it, so, yeah, I totally wasn't looking at her racquet, to go over and then to go under is obvious but for some reason I couldn't connect the dots. Yeah, it turned out pretty -- like it was working really well for her.

I think just being more comfortable sliding and moving around. I think last year I was set on liking hard more than clay instead of embracing clay-court. It's not like I can avoid this season, you know what I mean? So, I think this year I just sort of put on my energy into training and learning how to move better than I did before and yeah, I just -- I know what my goal is and I know what I'm trying to play for, so I'm doing whatever it takes to get there.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? Thank you.

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