Twelve months ago at this time, Osaka was off the tour while becoming a mother — her daughter, Shai, turns 1 on Tuesday, July 2 — and recalls flipping on the TV in the hospital and seeing a certain Grand Slam event on the screen.
WIMBLEDON — Naomi Osaka had not won a match at Wimbledon in six years. Hadn’t even played there in five. Grass courts never were her favorite surface.Naomi Osaka of Japan plays a backhand return to Diane Parry of France during their first round match of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Monday, July 1.
She’s won the U.S. Open and Australian Open twice apiece on hard courts, but never has been past the third round on either Wimbledon’s grass or the French Open’s clay. Osaka had not entered Wimbledon since a first-round loss in 2019, and while she’s topped the WTA in the past, she is now No. 113 in the rankings after being off the tour for 15 months until returning in January.“They have that feature, ‘This time last year.’ I was looking at that. I was looking at photos of myself in the hospital.
A year after a first-round exit at Wimbledon, Gauff eliminated Caroline Dolehide 6-1, 6-2. Raducanu was a 7-6 , 6-3 winner against Renata Zarazua, a late replacement when No. 22 Ekaterina Alexandrova pulled out because of an unspecified illness. “Wimbledon is the place — I wouldn’t say where the dream started,” Gauff said, “but maybe where I believed the dream was possible.”
“I, personally, was absolutely gutted, to be honest, because I thought she was going to win. ... But I was also happy for her and proud of her. And she was extremely upbeat,” said Stuart Duguid, Osaka’s agent. “I don’t think she took it as a match where, ‘I had a match point.’ She took it more as she got some belief back that she can beat the top players.”
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