Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts as she plays Spain’s Paula Badosa during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP
Spanish 10th seed Paula Badosa came from a set down to beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-7 (1/7), 6-1, 6-4 in the French Open first round on Monday, May 26. Badosa let a set point slip away on serve in the opener before Osaka dominated the tie-break.
Osaka took a medical timeout and had her cherry blossom-themed nails trimmed between sets, after which Badosa won the first five games of the second set. The Japanese former world number one regrouped and took a 2-0 lead in the decider, but Badosa soon pulled level before landing the decisive break in the seventh game. “Honestly, it’s not fair to play her first round, but I’m really happy with the level, especially coming from an injury,” said Badosa, who was limited to one clay-court tournament before Roland Garros.
In 2021, Osaka withdrew from the French Open before her second-round match, explaining that she experiences “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking to the media and revealing she had dealt with depression. She then took multiple mental health breaks away from the tour.
She helped usher in a change in the way athletes, sports fans and society at large understood the importance of mental health.
A year ago at Roland-Garros, Osaka played one of her best matches since returning to action after becoming a mother, coming within a point of upsetting eventual tournament champion Iga Swiatek.
Osaka’s powerful serves and groundstrokes are dulled by the clay, and that showed against Badosa. Osaka was broken five times and finished with nearly as many double-faults, five, as aces, seven.
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