WTA: “Like a breath of fresh air”: Competitors praise US Open-Champ Osaka

The hymns of praise for Naomi Osaka are not diminishing. Even the competitors like the shy but humorous manner of the Japanese US Open winner.

About three weeks ago the scandalous women’s final of the US Open took place. There was much discussion and analysis about Serena Williams’ outburst on this New York afternoon. It was the winner, Naomi Osaka, who had to leave the stage to the US superstar after her first Grand Slam title.

But little by little, the Japanese girl reaps the fruits of her impressive success in the Big Apple. At any rate, Osaka should be more than pleased with the praise of its competitors. She, who responded excitedly to Andy Murray’s congratulatory tweet after her New York triumph (“You were brilliant”) and so wonderfully down-to-earth: “OMG, Sir Andy, Thank you”.

Madison Keys, who lost to Osaka in the Flushing Meadows semi-final, said of the 20-year-old: “I feel like I’m probably more open and louder than her. She looks very authentic, sweet and shy. I think her whole personality is really interesting and nice,” said the American on the sidelines of the tournament in Wuhan this week, saying that Osaka was like a “breath of fresh air”.

The Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia finds above all the introverted, typically Asian nature of coach Sascha Bajin’s protégé sympathetic. “It’s always fun to see Naomi at the award ceremonies. While I am extremely excited in such situations and float on cloud seven, she is just totally calm – according to the motto: ‘It’s okay’. But that’s just her personality – and it probably looks different inside her,” said world ranking fourth Garcia, who wants to defend her title at the China Open in Beijing on Saturday.

For industry leader Simona Halep, Osaka’s triumph at the gates of New York came as no surprise. “She’s always been able to do these things. Naomi’s mentally strong. Even if she is still young, she is physically and mentally mature. She also has this great power, which is enormously important,” the Romanian French Open winner explained to the Internet portal Sport360.

Halep knows what she’s talking about: In her significant semi-final defeat to Osaka in Indian Wells in March, she only scored three games.