"If her head is into it the way it can be, she’s obviously one of the favorites, in my book" - John McEnroe on Osaka

John McEnroe sees Naomi Osaka as one of the favourites if she's fully focused on her tennis and winning the event.

Osaka won the US Open twice in her career and one of the events where she feels most comfortable. The Japanese player has not had a very good year results wise but fans were delighted to see that her mental health has improved.

Tennis is enjoyable for her once again and that's the main important thing for her moving forward. Speaking about Osaka and her mental health campaign McEnroe said:

"As far as Naomi, when she went out with the whole mental health thing it was sort of a gutsy thing to talk about and bring to the forefront and it was important especially with the pandemic. She’s not the first person that’s gone through this obviously. We all have gone through it, athletes. But she brought it out."

He further added:

"The problem I thought at the time and still do is that if anything, there’s more attention thrown on her because every time she walks on the court, you’re like, did she look happy? Does she look sad? Does she look this way or that? So, in a way it made it more difficult for her. So that part I think she didn’t take that — I don’t know; I shouldn’t say it; I can’t speak for her. It seems like that part may not have been taken into account enough. And so that’s made it trickier"

Turning his attention to tennis, McEnroe firmly confirmed that for him she's the favourite if she approaches the event the right way:

"I don’t know where her head’s at. Obviously, she’s incredible on hard courts. And I’m sure if her head is into it the way it can be, she’s obviously one of the favorites, in my book. But at the moment it doesn’t seem like she’s all there. But you just said, she’s won it twice and she’s won four majors on hard courts. To think she wouldn’t be capable of doing it would be crazy."