The 2025 US Open will mark Naomi Osaka and Victoria Mboko’s first tournament since the National Bank Open final in Montreal. Following Mboko’s stunning victory, Osaka failed to acknowledge Mboko in her quick post-match speech, which drew instant criticism from the tennis community.
Osaka and Mboko both pulled out of the Cincinnati Open, so Osaka’s participation in the US Open media day was her first time speaking to the media after the match (she skipped her media availability after the final, later putting out a statement).
So, it should come as no surprise that the first question asked of Osaka was about her post-match speech in Montreal.
David Law of The Tennis Podcast asked, “How did you process the next few days? And I just want to know how you felt when you came off the court and sort of settled down back into trying to think about what had happened there.”
“Honestly, I, um… I’m trying to word it so I don’t get caught up. But I don’t really know what was written, to be honest. I just got messages from people like telling me what’s potentially being written,” said Osaka.
“So to this day, I honestly couldn’t know what you’re referring to, but, like, I know I didn’t — you’re talking about the congratulations part?” clarified Osaka.
“Yeah. So for that, I like, I made sure to talk to her, because I know she’s young and, I don’t know, like, I feel really terrible if that, like, somehow impacted her humungous success, but she said it didn’t (laughs), and she didn’t even really notice, so I was really glad about that, and I was also just really glad that she’s such a sweet girl, which also just made me feel terrible even more.
“But, yeah, I don’t know. I feel like, for me, I was just trying to get through it so quickly that I forget a lot of things, and even going into the final, I wanted to, like, potentially write my speech because I know how I am talking and doing speeches, so that was, like, kind of a lesson to, like, stick to my instinct a little. But yeah, I will definitely remember to congratulate my opponents.”
Djokovic is the WTA World No. 25 with a record of 27-12 with one singles title. The 23-seeded Osaka faces Greet Minnen in the first round on Monday, August 25.
The US Open singles tournament runs from August 24 to September 7. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated’s Serve On SI for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.
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