"She's a superstar" - Medvedev praises Osaka after recent surge

Daniil Medvedev shared his “respect” for Naomi Osaka before the former world No 1 made it to her first big final since winning the 2021 Australian Open.

Osaka has dropped outside of the world’s top 75 after taking some time away from tennis for her mental health and losing early in recent Grand Slams. Osaka is set to face soon-to-be world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the Miami Open final on Saturday. It will be just their second career meeting more than two years after their first, when Osaka was the world No 2 and Swiatek had not yet cracked the world’s top 50.

Asked about Osaka and her recent surge Medvedev admitted:

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“I don't know her close as a person, so it would be tough for me to talk about it. I mean, I don't like to talk about people, because what I see is going to be articles in the media. Sometimes when I cross her, which is, you know, you don't know a person close enough. So I can only talk mostly about her tennis career, which is amazing. She won a lot of Grand Slams, she's one of the best in the world. Every time she plays, I think stadiums are close to be packed or packed. She's a superstar, a lot of contracts, a lot of attention, which is sometimes tough for her, as we see."

He further praised her strenght:

"But I think, yeah, she seems like a very strong person in her own way and definitely strong tennis player. A lot of respect to her for what she's doing,"