![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/610X150-Slide_PRO-PLAYER_5-21-26.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThat\u2019s because the 28-year-old Japanese knew stepping on Centre Court this may well have been her best shot to win Wimbledon and because Osaka expected more from her explosive game today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know my results don\u2019t show it, but whenever I play a slam, my intention is to win,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cAnd obviously last year I got to the [US Open] semis. I wanted so desperately to be in the final to have that opportunity, but Amanda played insane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly wasn\u2019t even mad that she won. This one is a little more upsetting to me because I feel like there was so much more I could have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Osaka lacked the energy and urgency she showed stomped Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6(2) soaring into the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.<\/p>\n
Former No. 1 Osaka not only scored her first career Centre Court win, she shattered Sabalenka\u2019s Open Era record winning streak of 21 consecutive Grand Slam tiebreakers.<\/p>\n
Today, Osaka could not match Muchova\u2019s fluid movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of just felt like my legs were completely gone,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cThen I felt like I couldn\u2019t really push off anymore. It was a really weird feeling, like my legs were disconnected from the upper half of my body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Make no mistake: This is a major miss for Osaka given seventh-seeded Coco Gauff is now the highest-seeded woman still standing. Osaka swept Gauff, 6-3, 6-2, at the 2025 US Open last September.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been five-and-a-half years since Osaka last raised a Grand Slam title trophy at the 2021 Australian Open. Prior to her upset of Sabalenka, Osaka was 0-13 against Top 10 opponents on surfaces other than hard court.<\/p>\n
So can the working mom break through and win another Grand Slam?<\/p>\n
Remember Osaka says yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think maybe I should find the positive in that because I\u2019ve gotten to the quarters and I feel like I can still improve so much as a player,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cYeah, I feel like in my head I think there\u2019s still an opportunity to win a slam.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 7, 2026Photo credits: Shaun Brooks\/Getty One round after Naomi Osaka overpowered world No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-787471","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\/787471","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=787471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}