"Kind of glad I'm not winning" - says Osaka on her clay struggles

The Japanese player had an early exit at the Madrid Open with her clay struggles a noted thing throughout her career.

Ahead of the Rome Masters Osaka spoke at the Media Day where she expressed optimistic feelings despite losing early in Madrid. She said:

“Honestly, I feel like that’s the reason why I’m here for match prep. I think, you know, actually in a weird way I’m kind of glad I’m not winning. I know that sounds a bit off, but I feel like I’m learning a lot. It kind of gives me a lot of drive to practice harder and to learn from all my practices”.

For Osaka, it's about making small adjustments to familiarise herself with play on her least favourite surface. When asked what the biggest struggle was in adapting to clay she calmly responded it was mental explaining:

“At the beginning when I first started training on clay, physically it was definitely very hard, but I’m the type that adapts quite quickly physically. So, I would just say mentally it’s a bit harder because you have to structure the points differently. I also think there are bad bounces and stuff. I get quite frustrated. So, yeah, mentally I think it’s a bit more taxing”.

As a seeded player, Osaka will have a 1st round BYE with a potential matchup against Pegula or Kasatkina waiting in the 2nd round.