Once she felt as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, it was clear that each loss fell more heavily on Naomi than it would on others. She first abruptly left the podium tearfully in 2019, at Wimbledon. In 2021, she pulled out of the French Open after entering a standoff with the tournament about mandatory post-match press conferences, in which she called post-loss press conferences \u201ckicking a person while they\u2019re down.\u201d A few months later at the 2021 U.S. Open, Osaka again ended a press conference tearfully.<\/p>\n
Osaka, who was defending champion at that tournament, dropped out of the top 10 soon after the loss and hasn\u2019t returned to that threshold yet. But she\u2019s also become, recently, much more grounded as a person, and far less fragile in defeat, even if those defeats come earlier and more often than they once did.<\/p>\n
Osaka was playing in the fourth round of the French Open for the first time on Monday night, in a high-profile night match against top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka. It\u2019s the sort of match which could\u2019ve meaningfully changed the trajectory of her season\u2014and even her career\u2014if she won it. Osaka played well, but couldn\u2019t sustain an early lead and lost 7-5, 6-3.<\/p>\n
Not only was Osaka not tearful at the podium this time, she was downright proud.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t really look at the result too much anymore,\u201d she said when asked if she thought her clay season had been a success. \u201cLike, I feel as long as I wake up every day and hit the ball and think I\u2019m improving, that itself is a win. Obviously sometimes in the season, there\u2019s dips: highs and lows. But I think getting the furthest that I got so far in Roland Garros should hopefully be a positive result for me.\u201d<\/p>\n 15% Off During 2026 French Open!<\/a><\/p>\n Later, Osaka was asked if she came off more \u201cencouraged\u201d or \u201cdaunted\u201d after testing herself against the World No. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cPresumably that\u2019s where you want to be again, No. 1,\u201d the reporter suggested.<\/p>\n Osaka laughed, and then apologized for the reaction.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry for laughing,\u201d she said. \u201cI kind of realize\u2014I don\u2019t know if you knew me before, but I would be very, very disappointed in myself after matches like these. But I kind of realized that it doesn\u2019t matter at all. <\/p>\n \u201cLike, I have played her multiple times, and I have, sadly to say, lost multiple times. But the only thing I can keep doing is keep trying my best. Maybe, hopefully, it will work out in my favor one day, but I can\u2019t let myself be discouraged every time I lose to someone or win against someone. Because honestly, like, hitting a ball doesn\u2019t really matter in, like, on earth, kind of.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/a1ec4116-dbd2-4528-8187-b05ca5172b7e_3840.jpeg\")
<\/a>Naomi Osaka under the lights (Photo by Mark Peterson \/ Corleve)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/c96bc9c5-01de-4e51-be6a-62b633b15ba2_3840.jpeg\")
<\/a>Naomi Osaka under the lights. (Photo by Mark Peterson \/ Corleve)<\/p>\n