Osaka Is Back

I don’t understand how a person could possibly have rooted against Naomi today. Obviously exceptions if you’re Polish or an Iga super fan or something.

Naomi was producing some of the best ball striking I’d seen in ages on the WTA. She is cut from an elite cloth of talent and we’ve been missing that in her absence. Moreover, no one expected this. She played so so well, an unexpectedly ridiculous domination of Swiatek (winning 12 games out of 15) in what is essentially her first big match since an extended absence after giving birth, it was awesome. Whatever you think of her as a person, it was an inspired performance after such a long absence.

And to see it on clay as well where Iga is a 3 time champ and was looking close to invincible on the surface… I hesitate to say Soderling-esque, as Iga is no Nadal, but it had the air of such a performance.

So to see it end in tears, with the underdog getting to match point on the tournament favorite and then choking badly with some routine UEs was sad, of course it was. It always is, even when you like the top player. In my case, I’m not a fan of Iga, but even if I was, it would still be sad. We see this outcome far more often than we do the upset.
 
Kralingen said:
I don’t understand how a person could possibly have rooted against Naomi today. Obviously exceptions if you’re Polish or an Iga super fan or something.

Naomi was producing some of the best ball striking I’d seen in ages on the WTA. She is cut from an elite cloth of talent and we’ve been missing that in her absence. Moreover, no one expected this. She played so so well, an unexpectedly ridiculous domination of Swiatek (winning 12 games out of 15) in what is essentially her first big match since an extended absence after giving birth, it was awesome. Whatever you think of her as a person, it was an inspired performance after such a long absence.

And to see it on clay as well where Iga is a 3 time champ and was looking close to invincible on the surface… I hesitate to say Soderling-esque, as Iga is no Nadal, but it had the air of such a performance.

So to see it end in tears, with the underdog getting to match point on the tournament favorite and then choking badly with some routine UEs was sad, of course it was. It always is, even when you like the top player. In my case, I’m not a fan of Iga, but even if I was, it would still be sad. We see this outcome far more often than we do the upset.
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I agree with your post, but being parallely active on a forum dedicated to the WTA only, I can assure you that the Swiatek fans are not sad, they are gloating like crazy while the Swiatek haters are having an absolute meltdwon, very reminiscent of the big 3 fans fights. :-D Pretty entertaining from a neutral perspective.
 
soldat said:
But she is liked. YOU just don’t like her, and you can like Osaka and not like Cordae.

I was hoping Osaka would pull it off, but Iga handled the pressure better so she won.

I still want Rybakina to win the title though
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Yeah, I don't like the boyfriend either. Neither one is any good. (y)
 
Dominic & Andrey said:
I agree with your post, but being parallely active on a forum dedicated to the WTA only, I can assure you that the Swiatek fans are not sad, they are gloating like crazy while the Swiatek haters are having a meltdwon, very reminiscent of the big 3 fans fights. :-D Pretty entertaining from a neutral perspective.
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I love it. That’s what tennis needs more of, real emotions, heightened stakes, drama. our sport needs this shot in the arm desperately.
 
Localfoc said:
Absolutely making Swiatek look like a second rate player.

This is the same Osaka that made peak Serena lash out at that poor umpire. Dominant. Unnerved.

I never thought we would see this level again from her.

No matter the result here, she is back.
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You cant say she's back bc of one match.... They were saying this about Kerber in Rome, and look at her now......

HOPEFULLY she's back, and this match should just motivate her even more. She's got the tennis, needs the focus, fitness and determination to get back at the top. Should be a fun summer if she keeps this up, can you imagine her mixing it up w Iga, Aryna, Elena????

Too bad it was just a 2nd rd match though, glad I got to experience it!
 
Localfoc said:
That was a good fightback from Swiatek. Fair play to her. But Osaka let that match go.
As for my original point, there is a fair, nuanced point about Switek's mental fragility, relative to her skill. I still believe that.

Embarrassing statement? Maybe. But not half as embarrassing as a hindsight grandstander.
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Agree. It was Osakas match to take. Alas, she 'thought about it too much', in other words, she choked. And what usually happens in these cases, great champions smell fear and take it right back. It happens, it was not a monumental choke, bc Iga did her part, she wasnt dead just yet, and when she had the slightest chances at the end, went for it. Amazing 2nd round match, it was way more exciting than Nadal-Zverev.

Iga yes, I'd say she is still fragile upstairs, BUT two years ago that match was over quick, she bounced back, same as in Madrid, thats gotta mean something.

The statement? She couldve done without it, even tho she was right, maybe not too smart to mention at that time. She couldve just spoken about it at the press conference.

Crowd happens, you cant control that. But no biggie, as well.

If you didnt watch this match, sorry for you ;)
 
Terrible ending. I'm so upset right now. This match reminded me of Fedovic's 40-15 trilogy, except I was rooting hard for Osaka and she choked over and over again on the finish line. The WTA tournament would have been much more interesting to watch without Iga. Nothing personal against her but tired of her winning everything on clay. Sadly now she will destroy everything and not lose a set until the final. We can already hand her the trophy.
 
kevaninho said:
I love all these people, who have never faced pressure in front of millions of viewers, in a stadium, on TVs everywhere , who talk about professional sports people being mentally weak LOL
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That's what this Forum is intended to do. We're discussing pro athletes, none of whom are entitled to any expectation of privacy or who are immune from criticism. To expect the public to refrain from criticizing them is total insanity. This isn't Disneyland here.

And yes, many of them are mentally weak. Zedrot serving for the USO against Thiem is a classic example of choking. There's hundreds of other examples in tennis if you care to examine past matches. Fed won 20 slams but easily could have had 25 had he not stumbled mentally in key moments.
 
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Oval_Solid said:
swiatek has been exposed to be a pigeon stomper
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She plays really well and has dominant performances, but her highest level is not good enough to beat the highest level games of multiple other players. Osaka at her best is better than Swiatek. As are others. That doesn’t really diminish Iga, but It’s obvious when you see players were hitting her off the court.
 
Localfoc said:
Absolutely making Swiatek look like a second rate player.

This is the same Osaka that made peak Serena lash out at that poor umpire. Dominant. Unnerved.

I never thought we would see this level again from her.

No matter the result here, she is back.
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I’m not a big Serena fan (her treatment of refs)… but Osaka did not play Serena in her peak years.
 
Yes she's back alright. Of course, one match does not a player make.

But this wasn't just ANY match. This was a match against the current number one player in the world.

We know she couldn't seal the deal today. But the overall level of play we saw from Osaka today was slam-worthy.

I would encourage others to watch her post-match interview to get it straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak).
She takes the loss incredibly well. She looks at the positives and really looks forward to this year's U.S. Open where
she'd be playing on a surface she's much more comfortable with.

She thinks she's currently playing better than she was before her recent hiatus.

BTW, if anyone can figure out why she does the interview wearing her headphones just above her ears, please let me know! :)
 
Mark-Touch said:
BTW, if anyone can figure out why she does the interview wearing her headphones just above her ears, please let me know! :)
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She was born with her ear drums 5 inches higher than normal and inside her cranium - right next to where she puts her special disability hearing aids (which look just like headphones).

That’s my guess anyway.
 
Aabye5 said:
The fact that Osaka was able to take it to Iga on CLAY is really what makes this so interesting. Even though she lost in the end, after her struggles on the surface it must be a little satisfying to have so many chances against the dominant player on the surface.
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Indoors, conditions resemble hard courts.
Said by Iga at the press conference after her match against Osaka.
8-B
 
Localfoc said:
Absolutely making Swiatek look like a second rate player.

No matter the result here, she is back.
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These two statement contradict each other. If she really made Iga look second rate she would have won. It was an excellent match and was good to see Naomi focused on tennis and hitting well, but Iga was too much.

Probably one of the better matches I watched lately overall. That first set was awesome.
 
Some of the mistakes Osaka made towards the end are the same my coach yells at me for, like when she tried to blast a FH in the open court DTL( instead of rolling it in) and she ended up netting it...
 
DSH said:
Indoors, conditions resemble hard courts.
Said by Iga at the press conference after her match against Osaka.
8-B
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True, but from Naomi's perspective, the movement is different. It's still a lot of sliding, which has tripped her up in the past.
 
Localfoc said:
She reminds me of a type of boxer who has all the plans until he gets punched in the face.
Her mentality is quite brittle.
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Iga doesn’t know how to make adjustments during matches. She was trying to go toe to toe against a red hot Osaka and it wasn’t working.
 
I think we can all agree that Osaka is a pretty long way ahead of schedule in this comeback. In her press conference she said she had aimed to be back at her best by September

In January in Australia her ball striking and serve were both good right out of the gate, but we weren’t sure where she was at movement-wise and mentally.

Now we have the answer to the movement question. I don’t think of Osaka as an amazing mover but she already has the footwork back to a level where she can impose her game even on her worst surface. She has always been a voracious trainer and apparently in her comeback she’s been augmenting her standard drill work with ballet training to try and speed up getting her footwork back.

The one question we have now is whether she can get back to her best level mentally. Being able to stare down and nearly beat Swiatek at RG is a pretty good sign that she is almost back, but the old Osaka would not have missed an opportunity to serve that match out even with Swiatek basically not missing a single ball for the last 40 minutes of the match.
 
kevaninho said:
I love all these people, who have never faced pressure in front of millions of viewers, in a stadium, on TVs everywhere , who talk about professional sports people being mentally weak LOL

Im pretty sure , that winning 4 grand slams by the age of 22, youd need to be mentally strong.

Its an embarrassing statement that people make.
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And she has a great record when losing the first set. Anyone who says Iga is mentally frail has never watched her play.

When she won Indian Wells in 2022 she lost first sets to Kalinin, Tauson and Kerber then came back from a set down 3 times (then took Martic, Halep and Sakkari in straights).

She's one of the great fighters on tour.

Her record in FINALS -- finals alone -- is 21-4, 84%.

Her record in MAJORS is 70-16, 81%.

Her record in 1000-level tournaments is 94-20, 82%.

No one can win 80+% of matches overall, let alone 80% of FINALS and be mentally weak.

It's absurd to claim otherwise.
 
Osaka proved last night that not only fails does she to act like a champion in victory, but she’s also one of the biggest gaggers of all time.

Makes me giggle.
 
Fintft said:
Some of the mistakes Osaka made towards the end are the same my coach yells at me for, like when she tried to blast a FH in the open court DTL( instead of rolling it in) and she ended up netting it...
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Exactly!
THIS is why Osaka lost yesterday. The mental side that prevented her from making sensible shots.
Not anything special from Iga in the 3rd.
 
Federev said:
She was born with her ear drums 5 inches higher than normal and inside her cranium - right next to where she puts her special disability hearing aids (which look just like headphones).

That’s my guess anyway.
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There is no need to bend over backward to justify and excuse poor etiquette.
It is disrespectful and unprofessional to wear headphones at a press conference. Take them off.
Where are her headphones here?
:rolleyes:

 
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Amazing seeing so much passion for a mental midget tennis player who still cant volley, benefitting from a WEAK WTA that has been in steep decline for the last 20 years and is in the sewer.
 
Localfoc said:
Absolutely making Swiatek look like a second rate player.

This is the same Osaka that made peak Serena lash out at that poor umpire. Dominant. Unnerved.

I never thought we would see this level again from her.

No matter the result here, she is back.
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Peak Serena? She was a mother fcs :mad:
 
Mark-Touch said:
Exactly!
THIS is why Osaka lost yesterday. The mental side that prevented her from making sensible shots.
Not anything special from Iga in the 3rd.
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Take a look at match point. Tried to rip an angled winner off a neutral rally ball. Missed badly.
Very low percentage shot in any situation. Never mind at Match Point. No common sense.
Get it back and stay in the point. Wait for an attackable ball.
Match is still very winnable! But clearly at that point she had quit and just wanted to go home.
She just quit on the match. While Iga conducted a master class on mental strength.

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Oh, look at that. The # 9 seed and former French Open champion just lost to someone ranked about 5986. Like I said, the WTA is in the toilet and has been for about twenty years.
 
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