Naomi Osaka admitted that she struggled with the pressure of carrying Japan's hopes in her home Olympics after losing in straight sets to former French Open finalist, Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-4.
Osaka lit the Olympic flame to symbolise the hope in which her country had instilled in her but in her post match press conference, she called it a 'bit much' for her first Olympics and that is where the struggles may have occurred.
“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this. I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year (it) was a bit much. I think I’m glad with how I played, with taking that break that I had.
“I’ve taken long breaks before and I’ve managed to do well. I’m not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher.
“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”