“I don’t want to stress too much”: Naomi Osaka opens up about mental pressure to achieve certain goals before end of 2025 season

Japan’s Naomi Osaka has admitted that she is getting ‘stressed’ about something other than winning matches. The 27-year-old is having an impressive season, winning 32 out of 46 matches across various competitions.

Her most recent win came in the first round of the ongoing Wuhan Open, where she defeated the 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. During the match, Osaka produced nine aces, five more than Fernandez. She ended up winning 104 points, nine more than Fernandez. Osaka converted four break points as well, one more than Fernandez.

Osaka spoke to Tennis 365, where she admitted that she was struggling with the thought of ranking points during the match. Osaka also went on to admit that her primary objective is to finish in the top-10 this year, but also reiterated her desire not to get too stressed about it. Osaka also highlighted that she herself was not thinking about ranking points, but it was down to her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, who made her realise the importance of staying in the top-16.

“That’s kind of the tough part that I was dealing with today,” said Osaka. “Of course, I want to end the year in the top 10, but I don’t want to stress myself out too much about it. During the US swing, when I had a good run, I wasn’t really thinking about rankings, other than, like, getting seated in this land. But Tomasz [coach Wiktorowski]. told me that there’s a like a little difference between being seeded like 16 or something. So I think that’s my goal for the end of the year.”

Osaka’s target of finishing in the top-10 this seems a rather far-fetched one, because she is currently placed in the 16th spot in the WTA rankings with 2,499 points. If she goes on and lifts the Wuhan Open title, her points tally will increase to 3,379, which, as things stand, will be slightly better than the 10th-placed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who is also playing in the Wuhan Open and has booked her place in the second round.

Osaka also went on to thank the crowd sitting in the arena for supporting her throughout the match in tough conditions, where a lot of players have broken down in the recent past. Osaka stated that coming to China always makes her happy and she feels that she makes everyone watching her happy as well, which, according to her, is a sign of ‘good energy’.

“Mentally, it was just really tough for me today,” said Osaka. “I think it’s a part of the season that’s just tough, you know. I think I’m, like, really happy to have gotten through it, and I think it’ll be easier from now on. Today, yeah, I mean, I feel like I just have to go for my shots more. I was kind of looking at the wall."

She continued by saying: "You know, the people that I’ve known here previously, and they all seem to be big hitters, so I’m just trying to do that a little bit more. The support was great today. I’m just really grateful. I feel like whenever I come to China, everyone shows me a lot of love, and I appreciate it so much. I was thinking in Beijing that I get the best gifts in China, and I don’t know, it’s just really cute, and I feel like I’m happy to see everyone, and everyone’s also happy to see me. So it’s a really good energy.”

Osaka’s next round opponent will be the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova. The 20-year-old cemented her spot in the second round of the mega-event after beating Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. It will be the first meeting between the two players in professional tennis.