{"id":64946,"date":"2025-08-12T21:41:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/64946\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T21:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:41:07","slug":"naomi-osaka-behavior-called-out-by-tennis-player-with-30m-point-tennis-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/64946\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka behavior called out by tennis player with $30M point – Tennis – Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka<\/a> delivered an impressive performance at the Canadian Open, reaching the final days after splitting with her coach<\/a>, but her post-match speech has since overshadowed her on-court efforts.<\/p>\n

Despite falling to 18-year-old Canadian<\/a> Victoria Mboko 2\u20136, 6\u20134, 6\u20131, Osaka\u2019s failure to acknowledge her opponent during the brief runner-up speech drew sharp criticism. Osaka followed the loss up by withdrawing from the Cincinnati Open ahead of the U.S. Open.<\/a><\/p>\n

During the presentation in Montreal, Osaka\u2019s remarks were notably short and impersonal. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to take up too much time, so I\u2019ll just say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my team, thank you to the ballkids, thank you to the organizers and all the volunteers, and I hope you guys all had a good night,\u201d she said, avoiding any mention of Mboko.<\/p>\n

The most stinging critiques came from a fellow former professionals. On ‘The Nothing Major Show,’ Sam Querrey didn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n

The former World No.11, who retired in 2022, said: \u201cCan Osaka not just act like an adult for five minutes? Just give a nice speech, fake it for a minute and then move on to the locker room. It drives me nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further reminded viewers of her substantial earnings, quipping: \u201cShe is also going to make $30 million, you can\u2019t just shy away from that. Give a decent speech, congratulate your opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Johnson echoed these thoughts, saying, \u201cAt least give an honest answer and thank your opponent. Do these things and move on. I know it\u2019s hard to do but as an athlete that is your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the backlash, Osaka addressed the situation publicly the next day. On Threads, she wrote: \u201cI also want to say sorry and congratulations to Victoria. You played a great match and have an amazing career ahead. I realize I didn\u2019t congratulate you on the court. Honestly I was in a daze.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her on\u2011court remarks immediately after the match, Osaka said, \u201cI think Victoria played really well. I completely forgot to congratulate her on the court. \u2026 She did really amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

DON’T MISS<\/p>\n

While some players and fans criticized her behavior, others defended her. Andy Roddick pointed out the emotional difficulty of such moments, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re the only sport that is forced to talk after we lose \u2026 I would rather her be friendly with Vicky Mboko all the time than at Grandstand in front of a microphone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the controversy, Victoria Mboko celebrated her victory with grace. In her winner\u2019s speech, she thanked Osaka directly, saying, \u201cI also want to thank Naomi for an incredible match. I\u2019ve always looked up to her when I was really little \u2026 it\u2019s always great to play with such an amazing player like you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka delivered an impressive performance at the Canadian Open, reaching the final days after splitting with her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,17581,24456,82,41527,593,1706,17045],"class_list":{"0":"post-64946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-open","11":"tag-naomi-osaka","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sportsmanship-controversy","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-tennis-section","16":"tag-victoria-mboko"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64946","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=64946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}