{"id":526967,"date":"2026-03-10T14:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/526967\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:33:24","slug":"very-motivating-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/526967\/","title":{"rendered":"Very Motivating \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 8, 2026
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook<\/p>\n

INDIAN WELLS\u2014When premier power players collided at the 2018 US Open, Naomi Osaka walked off the court armed with victory over Aryna Sabalenka and a potent premonition.<\/p>\n

Moments after her 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 triumph over the 26th-seeded Sabalenka in Flushing Meadows, Osaka had an epiphany that proved prophetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do remember it just because I felt like in that tournament, that was the hardest match for me,
and I remember thinking, like, we\u2019re both going to get very far,\u201d Osaka told Tennis Now\u2019s Chris Oddo in her BNP Paribas Open presser today. \u201cSo, yeah, obviously I was right. But yeah, no, it was definitely a really difficult match. It\u2019s really cool to see how far we both have come.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Osaka went on to capture her maiden major championship at that 2018 US Open scoring successive imposing 6-2, 6-4 wins over Madison Keys in the semifinals and her hero, Serena Williams in the final.<\/p>\n

Today, Osaka beat Camila Osorio, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to set up a blockbuster round of 16 rematch of four-time major champion vs. Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Sabalenka stomped Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1 to storm into the round of 16.<\/p>\n

The former No. 1 says she\u2019s fired up to face reigning No. 1 Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, for me, it\u2019s really exciting. I have watched her, I don\u2019t want to say \u201cgrow over the years,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cCecause I think she\u2019s only a little bit younger than me and I feel like an old person, but yeah, I have watched her grow over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously she\u2019s so consistent, she\u2019s the No. 1 player in the world and it\u2019s, for me, very motivating. I\u2019m excited to play her, and I\u2019m looking forward to it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sporting a Lakers jersey in her post-match presser, Osaka found her groove today after a frustrating second set that saw her toss her Yonex stick to the court at one point.<\/p>\n

Regaining control, Osaka hit her forehand drive down the line with vigor in avenging her 6-4, 6-4 loss to Osorio in the 2025 Indian Wells opening round.<\/p>\n

That forehand down the line and the first strike will be crucial against Sabalenka, who carries a 13-1 record on the season into the fourth round rematch vs. Osaka.<\/p>\n

Asked to assess the rematch, Sabalenka said the battle between Nike power players shapes up as fashion, fire and the opportunity to enact revenge for her Flushing Meadows loss eight years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it would be for sure a fashion show at the beginning. Then a crazy match,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cShe\u2019s a great player. Came back after pregnancy. Incredible shape. I have been watching her matches, really admire her.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, probably I\u2019ll have a chance to get a revenge, hopefully. I would like to play her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 8, 2026Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook INDIAN WELLS\u2014When premier power players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-526967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}