{"id":93253,"date":"2024-04-24T18:03:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/?p=93253"},"modified":"2024-04-24T18:03:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:03:57","slug":"osaka-gets-off-to-impressive-start-at-the-caja-magica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/osaka-gets-off-to-impressive-start-at-the-caja-magica\/","title":{"rendered":"Osaka gets off to impressive start at the Caja Magica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka is not letting her limited success on clay stop her from aiming high on the red dirt this season as she declared she \u201cwould like to win a tournament\u201d on the surface that has caused her trouble in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in Madrid for the first time since 2022, and the fifth time overall, Osaka impressed in her 6-4, 6-1 victory over Belgian lucky loser Greet Minnen, which was the Japanese star\u2019s first on clay in two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 26-year-old, who returned from maternity leave at the start of the season, has won all four of her Grand Slam titles on hard courts but is determined to find her footing on the red dirt, starting with a solid campaign at the Caja Magica this fortnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to win a tournament on clay, I would think it\u2019s very ironic but also hilarious if my first tournament (win back from maternity leave) would be clay,\u201d she told reporters on Wednesday after setting up a second-round meeting with No.15 seed Liudmila Samsonova.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, every tournament I play I want to win. I know that results so far haven\u2019t shown that but I really think that something\u2019s going to click eventually and when it does, I think I\u2019ll be really good.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut for right now, I\u2019m just going to be as humble as I can. I\u2019m happy to be in this tournament, I\u2019m happy to be playing against the best players in the world and I learn from them every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That positive attitude has been evident in Osaka\u2019s demeanour so far in Madrid, where she has cut a relaxed figure despite her opening-round exit in Rouen last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Osaka jokingly used colourful language when describing her first match on clay since 2022, which was a straight-sets defeat to Martina Trevisan at the WTA 250 in France.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSorry. It felt very bad,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

She feels much better about her win over Minnen on Wednesday in Madrid though, where she faced and saved just one break point and fired 19 winners including eight aces.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cI think I slid a couple of times to my forehand pretty well, so I was excited about that,\u201d said the former world No.1.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was hitting really good drop shots but I think I got to a couple quite well. I think just movement-wise I\u2019m feeling a lot more comfortable. I think shot-wise, I hit a couple of heavy balls. Hopefully I\u2019m able to continue that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Osaka reflected on some of her best memories on clay and picked a 2019 win over Spain\u2019s Sara Sorribes Tormo en route to the quarter-finals in Madrid as one of her favourites.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it was a really good win because I know she\u2019s kind of a clay-court player and she\u2019s also Spanish, so I was happy with that,\u201d she recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Osaka hit the road two weeks ago, first to play Billie Jean King Cup in Japan before jetting off to Rouen for the start of her clay swing, and had to leave her daughter Shai back home in California.<\/span><\/p>\n

She has been FaceTiming her every day and feels like she hasn\u2019t seen her in \u201cforever\u201d but added: \u201cOverall I think I\u2019m doing pretty well. I set out with a goal, I really want to make the most of my time here of course and hopefully learn a lot from this season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Osaka has made adjustments to her game since the start of her comeback, she wants to make sure she maintains the essence of her style, even on a unique surface like clay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a basis of my game and I want to stick to that but also respect the court. That\u2019s something that\u2019s a work in progress for me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m watching a lot more matches on clay, I\u2019m trying to do my homework as best as I can, so I\u2019m hoping that by the time the French Open comes along I\u2019ll be a lot better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Osaka\u2019s clay hopes don\u2019t just end with the French Open. The Japanese-Haitian sensation is eyeing the podium at the Olympics in Paris this summer, which will also be staged at the fabled grounds of Roland Garros.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Olympics feel so far away at this point but I would feel very excited to play them and I think it\u2019s really cool that they\u2019re going to be on clay and that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always wanted to conquer. Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to get a medal,\u201d she concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka is not letting her limited success on clay stop her from aiming high on the red dirt this season as she declared she \u201cwould like to win a tournament\u201d on the surface that has caused her trouble in the past. Back in Madrid for the first time since 2022, and the fifth time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":93254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[875,843],"tags":[1026,831,1079],"class_list":["post-93253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mutua-news-en","category-noticias-tenis-femenino-en","tag-2024-en","tag-mutua-madrid-open-en-2","tag-naomi-osaka-en-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93256,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93253\/revisions\/93256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}