"If she returns to dominance it will only be on hard courts" says Pam Shriver on Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka will return to the competition next week but tennis legend Pam Shriver has serious doubts about the prospect of her dominating WTA tennis.

Naomi Osaka has achieved quite a few things in her raltively young career with the Japanese player at times looking unbeatable. She will defend her Australian Open title in three weeks and that run to the trophy was truly dominant. Nobody really challenged her as Osaka established herself as one of the best hard court playres in recent memory.

Tennis legend Pam Shriver thinks Osaka can return to form but she is not optimistic about the prospect of her dominating outside of the hard courts:

“First off, if she returns to dominance, it will still be only on a hard court. Which begs the question: Can you be a dominant player on one surface? Look at the greats of all time, Navratilova, Graf, Serena, Roger, Novak – it’s been a multi-surface dominance."

Shriver further said:

“The other big question: Can she return to her best physical and emotional condition? If she can, yes, she can be the dominant hard court player. I think missing Wimbledon last year, and because it was canceled in 2020, when Osaka returns to a grass court it will be three years since she played a match on a grass court. Three years away from your most insecure surface is … forever. The grass is going to be a tough go. Clay is slightly less mysterious for her, but a challenge for sure."

Those are fair points raised by Shriver but only time will tell. Osaka certainly has the talent for it, is she willing to put in the work as well, remains to be seen.