Naomi Osaka ready to embrace clay challenge

Naomi Osaka is out of the Miami Open and with the clay season incoming the Japanese player is ready to take on the challenge hoping to win a clay event.

It was a disappointing ending for Osaka who did not go the full distance at the Miami Open which is somewhat of her home event. It also snapped a 23 match winning streak dating back to her 2020 Australian Open loss to Coco Gauff. Asked about that she said:

"I feel a bit similar to when I lost to Coco in Australia, but I think in this match it's different. I feel I played worse here possibly, but I fought more. So I think I am improving in that way because I feel like even if you're not playing great you should still find ways to win. I'm trying to find ways to do that."

Despite the disappointing ending Osaka is happy with how she did especially since her comfort level on this type of surface is not the largest:

"But if I look at it at a whole, I'm happy with how I did. I feel like even though I wasn't feeling that comfortable on this surface, I managed to get quite far, even though I only played two matches."

Focus now shifts to the clay season for Osaka who has not played on clay since 2019. She is ready to embrace the challenge though especially with a bolstered team by her side that added Wim Fissette and fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura. On that she said:

"I'd love to win a tournament on clay. I think for me, I'm going to learn a lot from Wim. He's very energetic and excited to move on to the new surfaces. It's going to be really interesting."

She is hopeful things will go well on clay but she understands that she needs to grow on those surfaces which is what Fissette said back in February:

"It was one of her goals this year to play well outside of the hardcourts. She's still very young. It's time to grow on those surfaces. She also believes she can do well, and I'm sure, with the right preparation with a few tactical technical adjustments, we're gonna do well."