Mats Wilander: Not sure we will ever see Naomi Osaka win a Grand Slam again

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“I’m not sure if we are gonna ever see the great Naomi Osaka who’s gonna win Grand Slam tournaments again… We realize that it’s gonna be tough for her… She’s gonna have to reevaluate a little bit… why am I out here playing tennis?… I need to learn how to volley, I need to learn how to hit a slice backhand. I need to learn a new language, so to speak,” Wilander said.

The Swedish player also thinks that Naomi should forget about the past and move on. “That’s the hard part being a professional tennis player… we should not expect Naomi Osaka of old to ‘be back’ and she needs to look forward… it’s not gonna be easy,” Wilander further stated.

www.essentiallysports.com

'Not Sure If We Are Gonna Ever See the Great Naomi Osaka Again', Says 7-Time Grand Slam Champion

Former 7-time Grand Slam winner, Mats Wilander thinks the great Naomi Osaka of past will never be back and she needs to move forward.
www.essentiallysports.com
 
Osaka has only made FOUR slam quarter-finals in her entire career (and she went on to win the title each time).
She's always been woefully inconsistent, so a slam drought is not surprising.
 
I have some sympathy for Osaka. Her breakthrough maiden major victory was absolutely shat on, very deliberately, by an incredibly insecure opponent who is/was supposedly an ambassador for the sport.

What she became after that, as an ambassador for tennis, Nissin, Nissan and whoever else, was somewhat beyond her control.
 
Mats is a pundit and he's presenting for Eurosport at the AO. He has to go deeper into issues than merely reporting results. With this, he's going to speculate and make predictions left, right and centre. I don't think he's going to get all of these things right. Osaka has won 4 majors, all on the hard courts. I find it hard to believe she won't at least win 1-2 more in her career. What I do think she needs to do is play a fuller schedule and take the challenge of playing on clay seriously. Many of the winners of RG over the past decade or so have been powerful hitters like her, so she really needs to try and get her movement and tactics on the surface up to a place where she can at least win a few rounds each clay tournament. Now she will be ranked so low she will need WCs and likely run into top seeds in R1 or R2 which will be brutal especially on clay. On hard though she will be a nightmare R1 or R2 draw starting at IW and Miami. Win or lose, I'd love to see her play Barty and the other top players more often this year as so many of them she's either never played or not for a good while.
 
What he was saying is that we might not see the OLD Osaka again, the one who won the majors, that she may need to grow into a new kind of player to keep going forward.

To be honest it was pretty funny watching Lim trying to get both Wilander and McEnroe to say something nice about her, and they just both kept sticking the boot in :-D miserable old bastards.
 
I thought Osaka looked pretty good for being out for 6 months or so. Physically not 100% you could tell. However, and this is most important, mentally she looked engaged and said she was having fun again.

I don’t think the peak Osaka is coming back anytime soon but her ball striking is so clean and when she gets into a zone on serve she’s tough to beat. I expect she’ll make noise at a HC 1000 or two and if she can stay focused I still have her as a favorite for the US Open.
 
yokied said:
I have some sympathy for Osaka. Her breakthrough maiden major victory was absolutely shat on, very deliberately, by an incredibly insecure opponent who is/was supposedly an ambassador for the sport.

What she became after that, as an ambassador for tennis, Nissin, Nissan and whoever else, was somewhat beyond her control.
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Can we stop blaming Serena for everyone else's problems?

Please?
 
It's getting harder to win on the women's tour with just a power style of game. Barty, Emma Rad., Iga - great players with variety. The big ball bashers will win some matches, but putting it together against players that have more variety and aren't pushed around by the big ball, are going to be tough to consistently beat.
 
Depends on her. It’s hard to sustain a top ranking when you can’t make any impact on 2 of the 4 surfaces. If she wants to dig in, learn to move and play on clay/grass, she def has the talent to be top 5 and compete for GS. If the status quo remains, it will be a long way back to the top.
 
Aabye5 said:
This is Wilander we are talking about, the prince of controversy.
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Yep. He only has a job as a commentator because he was a really good, successful player, he can complete sentences, and is not physically unattractive. In other words, he meets the basic job qualifications.

Alas, he's said things about various players that is simply bs. Anything he says is always suspect IMO.

As for Osaka, I didn't think she looked all that bad, and she certainly looked to be in better spirits. There have been other players who surprisingly lost early. That does not mean they are done too.
 
She won't as a part timer. But if she recommits, then she will be. In fact, her best years are likely ahead of her.
 
MiamiWeekendWarrior said:
Why do you say that? Naomi's ranking just plummeted. It's going to be hard to work her way up from that. She'll be getting very tough draws with that ranking.
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Its not going be that big of a deal if she plays tournaments. Anismova literally wasn't even in the top 100 she took a long time off. Just won a tournament, and is doing well in this one. And she isnt a four time slam winner. Her ranking is now jumping back up. I swear some of you have never watched womens tennis.
 
MiamiWeekendWarrior said:
Why do you say that? Naomi's ranking just plummeted. It's going to be hard to work her way up from that. She'll be getting very tough draws with that ranking.
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After she won her first two slams, she disappeared for two years, then won two more. She struggles with pressure when at the top, but when her ranking and expectations drop she comes back again hitting freely. Actually many wta players have this pattern, eg. Kerber and Muguruza.

Osaka is far too young to be written off already.
 
Wilander has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for some years now.

I don't actually even know if he believes half the stuff he says. It would be very interesting if someone confronted and grilled him on why he holds these opinions and why he expressed himself like a journalist from the yellow press.
 
TopspintheTerrible said:
Yes that’s true. And has little to do with her needing to diversify her game to compete on clay and grass.
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She literally just won a slam a year ago. Anyone who is writing her off is nuts. Heck I don't even particularly care but saying she won't win a slam again is insane. Anyone who watches the womens game knows that anyone with a decent game and a hot hand can win a slam. I mean we have seen this over and over and over.
 
insideguy said:
She literally just won a slam a year ago. Anyone who is writing her off is nuts. Heck I don't even particularly care but saying she won't win a slam again is insane. Anyone who watches the womens game knows that anyone with a decent game and a hot hand can win a slam. I mean we have seen this over and over and over.
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I too think it’s very possible she can win a slam again. And Wilander didn’t say “she’ll never win a slam again.” And even if you don’t agree with the first part of the statement, the rest of it raises valid points.
 
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He's right. And in this post Williams, shake out era there are likely to be several one or two hit grand slam wonders who don't repeat.
 
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Wilander’s brain is like a pinball machine. She’ll play one decent match and he’ll think Osaka will win 10+ slams. He’s no Mark Petchey, that’s for shurrre.
 
yokied said:
I don’t, but a degree of consideration is necessary when the game is in poor hands.

How do you think Steffi would’ve shaped up in the early days if Martina carried on like a ****in lunatic and couldn’t take her L?
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Well she married a tennis player with behaviour worse than anything Serena's done so I personally don't think it would've rattled her that much

But then Serena is different, as ever, because reasons...
 
insideguy said:
Oh god she is still young has won 4 slams, barely lost to a red hot player. Honestly this is just stupid.
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Say what you will about Wilander, but the guy was the consummate professional and his points are valid. If she wants to stay a streaky, albeit amazing when "on," tennis player, she can keep doing what she is doing. If she wants to be there, consistently, week after week, the things he has pointed out would be good to work on. I don't know why the things he said are perceived as particularly hurtful. It's up to her the kind of career she wants to have. How many people can do what she's already done? Very few. Still, if she wants to be the greatest, which I think Wilander believes is within her reach, she's going to have to make changes to her approach to training and thinking through matches. Wilander's approach to tennis was very much shooting for being there week in, week out.

That said, the guy also flamed out and started doing serious drugs after 1988, so perhaps his approach wasn't the best, either. :unsure:
 
Wilander is a ticking time bomb for dumb **** about tennis players. Whether Federer, Serena or Osaka. Naomi looked fantastic in her first two matches and in the lead up tournament. Says she’s fallen back in love with tennis again. Her ranking has dropped but she is nowhere near done let’s be real. Anyone with a brain can see that.
 
Naomi's definitely changing and sort of maturing. Now she's actually laughing at her bad shots and even her losses, and after the AO, she's closing her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Not bad. Now she needs to drop that stupid golddigger rapper boyfriend and all the SJW crap and focus on her tennis, and she could go places. Maybe.
 
Winners or Errors said:
Say what you will about Wilander, but the guy was the consummate professional and his points are valid. If she wants to stay a streaky, albeit amazing when "on," tennis player, she can keep doing what she is doing. If she wants to be there, consistently, week after week, the things he has pointed out would be good to work on. I don't know why the things he said are perceived as particularly hurtful. It's up to her the kind of career she wants to have. How many people can do what she's already done? Very few. Still, if she wants to be the greatest, which I think Wilander believes is within her reach, she's going to have to make changes to her approach to training and thinking through matches. Wilander's approach to tennis was very much shooting for being there week in, week out.

That said, the guy also flamed out and started doing serious drugs after 1988, so perhaps his approach wasn't the best, either. :unsure:
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The whole idea is crazy. When we are watching Madison keys who couldn’t win a match last year playing well again. It’s one thing for some dude online to say Osaka is done. But for someone like Wilander to do this is pathetic and shows he either knows nothing about women’s tennis or just wants to be a troll
 
insideguy said:
The whole idea is crazy. When we are watching Madison keys who couldn’t win a match last year playing well again. It’s one thing for some dude online to say Osaka is done. But for someone like Wilander to do this is pathetic and shows he either knows nothing about women’s tennis or just wants to be a troll
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I didn't read it as, "she is done." I think that's a strong interpretation of the quote.
 
MiamiWeekendWarrior said:
She'll be getting very tough draws with that ranking.
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Maybe that's a good thing with her temperament? Take out a top seed early, then blitz the lower players left until the final.

It's not like there is anyone that she cannot beat, we should all agree.

She can get 1000 points back on her tally as soon as the next tourney at that level concludes (but, yeah, probably on HC)


Voila. Ranking problem solved.

Just saying.
 
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