Naomi Osaka’s gritty campaign on the clay courts of Rome has drawn rave reviews from her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
The tennis coach found time to praise the former World No. 1 for showing resilience after getting through to the third round of the 2025 Italian Open.
Naomi Osaka Broke Four-Year Title Drought With Recent Victory in France
Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam titleholder, is appearing in her sixth Rome WTA 1000 event currently. Following a dominant first-round elimination of Italy’s Sara Errani, Osaka replicated that result by defeating Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the second round. She is now set for a third-round tie against either Marie Bouzkova or 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia on May 10.
Her advancement in Rome comes after a breakthrough victory in the WTA 125 L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo, where she won her first title in four years and, most notably, her inaugural title on clay. Seeded second at the French tournament, Osaka stormed through Petra Marcinko, Diane Parry, Elsa Jacquemot, and Leolia Jeanjean to overcome Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan in the title clash.
After her hard-earned second-round victory in Rome, Patrick Mouratoglou expressed his respect for Osaka‘s performance on court in Instagram Stories.
“I am very proud of @naomiosaka for her fighting spirit today,” the French coach wrote.
Screengrab of Naomi Osaka’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou’s Instagram stories (@patrickmouratoglou)
Naomi Osaka Spoke About Her Mental Development Following Rome Opener Victory
Naomi Osaka discussed her developing mental state in an interview with Tennis Channel, emphasizing the need to be mentally strong and to remain in the right mindset point by point.
“I think for me it’s just mentality. I realized, sure, you can play amazing tennis, but mentally you have to be really focused and honestly in it, every point. And I think I’m getting my way back there,” Osaka said.
“I think realizing that and then also trying my best to correct it. I know I get distracted sometimes, but just trying my best on that front,” she added.
When questioned about what she wants, the Japanese-born American replied that she’s not hunting titles or rankings, just to win each match.
“It’s very interesting because I know last year I had a lot of goals, and winning a tournament was one of them. So I’m glad I was able to check off. One of my last year’s goals. But I think this year I don’t really have goals,” she added.
“I would say winning every match that I play is a goal, which is very difficult, but I think it’s going to lead me to major goals that I have set for myself. But I think I don’t want to speak it too much. I’d rather just when it happens, it’ll happen, and then I’ll express how happy I am,” Osaka concluded.
AloJapan.com