It is safe to say that Naomi Osaka is pretty excited about the North American hard-court swing as the former world No. 1 funnily remarked that she felt like “Sailor Moon” as soon as her feet touched her favorite surface.
After vowing to play more on clay and grass this year and having loaded schedules during those two swings, Osaka is set to play in Toronto in what will be her first hard-court tournament since March.
And during a pre-tournament press conference in Toronto, the four-time Grand Slam champion wasn’t trying to hide how she feels about this part of the year. For context, Sailor Moon is a magical girl/super-heroine from a Japanese animated series.
“As soon as my foot touched the hard court, I felt like Sailor Moon, just transforming,” Osaka said in Toronto.
There’s just something about stepping out on a hard court for @naomiosaka 🤩
Quote of the day courtesy of 👉 Fantino & Mondello pic.twitter.com/2w8vE6cuLJ
— National Bank Open (@NBOtoronto) August 5, 2024
Before her maternity leave, Osaka won seven titles and all of her titles came on hard courts – most notably, she has two Australian Open and two US Open titles.
Osaka reveals how her baby daughter impacted changed her perspective
After the grass season, Osaka went to the Paris Olympics hoping to win her first medal there. But Osaka’s hopes were quickly squashed after she was beaten by Angelique Kerber on the clay courts of Roland Garros in the first round.
In Toronto, Osaka acknowledged that she was disappointed about the early Olympics loss before explaining why overcoming such losses is easier now than it was in the past.
“Well, I would say when I was younger I defined success by winning tournaments, winning matches. I defined my worth a lot by like whether I won or lost and now I would say for example I lost in the Olympics I was of course really devastated but I don’t know I was just surrounded by my team and then I went back home and I saw my daughter and I don’t know she’s just happy to be alive. She’s happy that I’m her mom for some reason and it just gave me a lot I guess motivation,” Osaka explained.
Meanwhile, Osaka plays Ons Jabeur in the Toronto first round.