US OPEN

August 31, 2021

Naomi Osaka

Press Conference

N. OSAKA/M. Bouzkova

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Could you tell us your thoughts on the match and advancing to round two.

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I thought today's match was really tough. I haven't played her in a while. I guess just to be able to be the first night match and to win in two sets was really important to me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. (No microphone.)

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, definitely nervous, of course. I'm always nervous during the first round in a slam.

But it felt kind of surreal to walk onto the court and to hear an actual audience this time. To see people and to hear their energy, because last year the automated crowd noise was kind of the same all the time. But here, people are reacting in real-time, so it was cool.

Q. When you're out there and you notice the crowd excitement, do you focus on one face out there?

NAOMI OSAKA: Sometimes, yeah. Like today there was this little girl on the side. I heard her voice sometimes. I'm not sure if it's because she had a higher-pitched voice than everyone else.

I did, like, focus on her voice when I was on the side that I entered in on. Yeah, I thought it was really cute.

Q. Obviously you're happy to be playing in front of crowds, fans. How long did it take to go from whatever early distraction it may have been to feeding off the crowd and enjoying that?

NAOMI OSAKA: When you say 'early distractions', what do you mean?

Q. When you go from not playing in front of fans, to now having a packed house, which I assume was buzzing, how quickly did it go from however long it took to adjust to that to be able to feel that and get a boost from it?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I would say for me, I'm the type of player that wants to entertain a crowd as well. I think last year I was just really business. Like I wouldn't try to hit a crazy serve or anything like that. Of course, I'm only one match in here and I don't think I've gotten that distracted yet.

Maybe if I play a couple more matches I'll be able to answer that question better.

Q. A lot of players have pulled out of the tournament. There's now even more pictures of you on the US Open posters around the city than there would be otherwise. How many have you seen in New York? What are your thoughts when you see yourself on a poster, whatever it may be?

NAOMI OSAKA: I honestly haven't seen any. I know I've seen Djokovic and Coco, though.

Q. You said the other day you played better when you have a purpose. You wrote something about being less self-critical. Was that a new purpose or approach, something to target during this tournament?

NAOMI OSAKA: I'm not really sure if it's something to target. But I do know that, like, I tell people that I'm a perfectionist. I think for me something that's less than perfection, even though it might be something great, is a disappointment. I don't really think that's a healthy way of thinking. So something that I really wanted to change.

I think, yeah, in this tournament I just want to be happy with, like, knowing that I did my best and knowing that even though I didn't play perfect I was able to win a match in two sets, or if I have to battle, play a match in three sets, know that I made a couple mistakes, but it's okay at the end of the day because I'll learn from the matches that I'll keep playing.

Yeah, it's not really a tournament thing, it's more like a life thing. Like I hope I can keep this mindset throughout my life going forward.

Q. You saved all eight breakpoints that you faced. She was serving quite well in terms of percentage. The first set in particular, how much pressure were you feeling and how did you manage that as the set went on?

NAOMI OSAKA: I actually thought I was doing pretty well on the return games. There were a couple games that were pretty close, so I just kept telling myself to keep it really tight, hopefully she'll get nervous or something. I feel like that did happen a little bit on the last set point that I was able to win.

But, yeah, my serve's definitely one of my biggest weapons. It's able to come in when it's really necessary. But hopefully it won't be that needed in the future.

Q. Regarding the statement you put out, was there a light bulb moment for you that you felt, I need to really start liking myself, or after all that's happened it's just been a gradual situation?

NAOMI OSAKA: I think it's been a gradual situation. Like, there's multiple events in my life that led me into thinking the way that I do. I think for me one of the biggest things is, like, hearing a little kid telling me that I'm their favorite player or I'm a role model. Instinctively the first thought in my mind is like, Why?

I feel like I have to sort of embrace more the feeling that, like, the honor that they're telling me that, and I should believe more in myself. I feel like if you don't believe in yourself, then other people won't believe in yourself.

It's more like a realization thing.

Q. A lot of us have mentioned it, you talked about sort of the stress that you felt in these sort of situations, but you get a lot of publicity, magazine covers. How do you balance that or if you could explain to us these sort of two different experiences of the mental stress that this may cause you versus being seemingly quite comfortable with a lot of publicity?

NAOMI OSAKA: I don't think I'm the type that's -- hmm. How do I explain.

Like I love -- not love. I really like to see fashion magazines. That's where a lot of people see me on just because it's sort of something that I never really do. As a tennis player, you don't really get the chance to dress up and go on shoots like that.

For me I love learning from those experiences because usually when you do Vogue or something, you can meet the designer or meet the head of the house. That's like a cool experience for me.

I think press conferences like these, I've become really desensitized to it because I've been doing them since I was really young. I feel like there are moments, especially like during the Zoom calls, where I just feel like I'm sitting in front of a screen taking questions. It's really hard for me because I like to see people's expressions and stuff, especially like when someone joins a Zoom that I don't know and I feel like they're giving me really bad energy. I feel like I have to put multiple guards up.

But, yeah, I can see where that, like, sentence is coming from. I don't really know how to answer it that correctly. For me, like, doing the magazine stuff and then doing press conferences are two completely different things. That's how I feel. But I can see why you would ask that question.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I felt like today of course I had memories of my last match in Cincinnati, but I also thought it's a unique case because it's a first round in a slam. I felt like if there was anything that I could do, I would leave it all on the court. I thought that in the first set. Maybe I was being a bit too passive in the way I wasn't opening the court up that much. So I think I did that much better in the second set. I was able to move her around. I feel like that's why I got a much better score.

Yeah, I definitely had a much clearer mindset. I feel like, you know, I'm trying to really focus on every point and every game. I know that getting broken is definitely something that's really difficult to come back from. So I just really wanted to focus on my serve and tell myself to do everything that I could.

Yeah, I mean, definitely I'm always the type that gets nervous, especially in slams, especially in first rounds. I think the only interesting thing about this first round is that the nervous energy was kind of contradicting with the excitement that I had from being able to see a crowd in such a long time. It was definitely a bit weird feeling. But I think I was more excited than nervous in the end.

Yeah, I mean, I feel for me, I gain confidence with each round I play. It's definitely relieving to be able to win this match in two sets instead of three. But I also feel like I learned a lot in this match. I think, again, with being able to open up the court more in the second set, I feel like that's something I maybe should have done a bit earlier in the first set, so...

Honestly ever since I could remember I've been kind of going into my Notes app and posting how I feel. I'm not sure if it's more to update people or it's more for myself to put out what I feel to, like, bring that energy I guess out into the world. But usually when I do that, I feel some sort of resolve, like people have seen how I feel in this current moment, and there's no take-backs especially in the world of social media. Yeah, honestly I'm not really sure if it's more of informing people or if it's more for myself. Like if I get an inner strength from doing that.

Honestly I didn't feel pressure today. I don't really know how to describe it. It may have to do with, like, my mindset change. So I didn't feel pressure today. But I think I felt nerves because I wanted to perform well. I think in my mind I told myself that if I performed well, then the outcome, even if I win or lose, should be okay. I also felt like at the end of the day you train really hard to play in front of people, especially a night match in Ashe, it's the biggest stadium in tennis. I don't know, I think that's why I felt nervous, but I definitely didn't feel any pressure.