Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, August 23, 2025
Image source: Omnium Banque Nationale Facebook
Former world number one Naomi Osaka Alone in this open field in America.
Over the past decade, Osaka, ranked 25th, is a lonely woman who won two U.S. Open Championships.
Osaka met with the media on the grass in Flushing today and she was in a good position both physically and mentally and felt energetic in working with new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who directed IGA Swiatek to multiple major champions.
“I’m physically, physically, I mean, I’m working with a new coach. He’s really great.” “I don’t know. He’s just very helpful. He cuts the chase and he makes me feel like I’m
Tennis encyclopedia, so it’s better to have someone like this in your corner.
“Physically, I feel really good. I feel like I’m going to get into the ball very quickly, so it’s very helpful because it makes me feel unstressed and unable to end the point. Given that we’ve kind of adapted to our game plan, like who I’m playing, yes, it should be a really fun game.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion will play an interesting game in the Montreal final.
Vicky Mboko, 18, defeated her tennis hero Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to capture Canada’s open-ended and hats and win the historic Cinderella story in front of the family crowd. Mboko beat four Grand Slam champions – Kenin, Coco Goff, Elena Rebakina and Osaka, a path to that title, becoming the second year in WTA history, behind Serena Williams of the 1999 U.S. Open to achieve the feat.
During the trophy speech, Osaka spoke for only about 20 seconds and failed to congratulate Canadian wildcards at her Virgin Championship. Today, Osaka said she was emotionally chaotic about Montreal’s final inning as she ignored Mboko’s congratulations and success as she earned seeds at the U.S. Open with her final result.
“My biggest goal is to be seeded in the game, and that’s what I know
Osaka said immediately. No, because I just feel very sad, like shame. I think my team feels worse because we really can’t celebrate correctly.
“They’ve been with me all the time, so they know how big the final is. Only know
I can go back to the level I don’t want to say “that level”, but only know I can be there. ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d1l7msxsf8
The day after Montreal’s final, Osaka apologized and congratulated Mboko on social media. Osaka said she felt “bad” about her post-match speech today and later spoke with the teenager in person to congratulate her.
“Like that, if that, I was really scary, somehow affected her great success,” Osaka said. “But she said no, she didn’t even really notice it, so I was really happy. I was also glad she was such a cute girl, which also made me feel even more scary.
“Yes, I don’t know. I feel like for me, I just wanted to finish it quickly, that I forgot a lot of things. Even when I went to the finals, I wanted to write my speech like I did because I knew I was talking and speaking. So that, like a lesson, I could tolerate my instincts.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UZ6SBKZBHA
Osaka, who opened to Minnen at Louis Armstrong Stadium, said she will make two adjustments next time she plays the final: write a speech in advance, “I will definitely remember to congratulate my opponent.”
