Clayomi? Please don't quips Naomi Osaka as new nickname gains traction on social media

Naomi Osaka continues her exceptional return to form seeing off Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Last 16 of the Rome Open where she will face Qinwen Zheng. But a new nickname has been hoisted onto the shoulders of the former World No.1 which seemingly made her cringe.

Move over Claytek or Clay-lah, it is all about Clayomi as a journalist asked for her thoughts on the new nickname to which she just laughed and said sharply to not give her that tag. After playing poorly in Rouen and Madrid, she seems to have found the magic formula in Rome and is thriving after superb wins over Clara Burel, Marta Kostyuk and now Kasatkina.

“Please don’t,” Osaka said embarrassed of the new nickname given to her by fans mainly on the social media platform X. Please. I think I need more clay credentials for that. But I’m happy that they’re happy.”

But speaking of the match, she harped back to their practice match which saw Kasatkina thump her in two sets and how she has now figured it out. “I remember her beating me like 6-0, or 6-1, if I’m being generous to myself,” Osaka continued. "For some reason when the match started, I didn’t really know how to play on clay. I didn’t know how to structure the point. I’m very happy that apparently I figured it out.”

“It’s definitely more mental,” Osaka continued quipping her new state of mind has helped. "I could always do it. I’m a little impatient. When you hit a heavier ball, for me, I feel like I think about a moon ball. It didn’t really click until I was watching Nadal play and seeing how he actually accelerates so much when he’s doing that, knowing that a heavier ball sometimes is more difficult than a flatter shot. Yeah, I feel like I just did a lot of homework.”