Naomi Osaka has not been beyond the third round of a Grand Slam since the 2023 season, and she was visibly emotional following her Wimbledon third-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
17:20 ET, 04 Jul 2025Updated 17:20 ET, 04 Jul 2025
Naomi Osaka was downbeat during her post-match Wimbledon press conference(Image: X: @TheTennisLetter)
Naomi Osaka was visibly shaken after her third-round exit at Wimbledon, finding herself at a loss for words when asked about balancing motherhood with top-tier tennis. It comes after she was left embarrassed by Nick Kyrgios’s presence.
Despite leading the match, Osaka succumbed to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with scores of 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, missing out on what could have been her first fourth-round appearance at the prestigious tournament. It follows Osaka walking out of her French Open press conference in tears.
The California-based Japanese star struggled to keep her composure during the Wimbledon post-match press conference, offering concise responses until a question regarding her role as a mother to her daughter, Shai, who just turned two this week, tipped her over the edge.
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“I’m really sorry,” she managed to say. “Can you ask me that… no, not again, but I can’t answer that right now. Maybe another time.”
Osaka has faced challenges in recent Grand Slam events, including an early departure from the French Open after a match against Paula Badosa. She reflected on how the loss at Wimbledon affected her differently than previous tournaments.
“I mean, I think in Paris I was just very… like, when I sat here, I was very emotional,” Osaka recounted. “Now I don’t feel anything, so I guess I’d prefer to feel nothing than everything.
Naomi Osaka was on the wrong end of an Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova comeback on Court 2(Image: Getty)
“I think it’s because I actually thought I could play well, like, in general. I’m not saying I didn’t play well, but [I thought I could] make a deep run here. I wanted to do better than I did before. Also, I felt like I was trying so hard. I low-key busted a vein in my hand.
“I think if I look back on it, I can be happy with how I played. I think I started getting a lot more comfortable on grass. Clearly, I need to work on a couple of things.”
Four-time Grand Slam champion and ex-world No. 1 Osaka hasn’t made it past the third round of a Slam since sitting out the entire 2023 campaign, with her triumphs limited to the hard surfaces of Melbourne and Flushing Meadows.
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While this positions Osaka for potentially brighter days leading into the US Open in August, she isn’t quite ready to pivot her attention after a disheartening run at Wimbledon’s prestigious turf.
She revealed: “Obviously, I look forward to it [the hard-court swing]. I think last year I put a lot of stress on myself because I know I have a history of playing well there [in the USA], and then also the Asian swing. I am looking forward to it, but I don’t want to kind of psych myself out.”
AloJapan.com