Osaka finds inspiration in Wozniacki's comments about her not making it past Kerber

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki "confidently" predicted Angelique Kerber would come out of her section of the draw and Naomi Osaka took it personally.

A couple of days ago Naomi Osaka was watching the Tennis Channel which had a show dedicated to the draw. Caroline Wozniacki was part of the panel and commentating on the draw the former player predicted Kerber to advance past Naomi Osaka. She explained what she thought about that:

"I was watching Tennis Channel the other day, right? I don't know like what night or whatever, but they had the draw up. I was like, 'Oh, no, I accidentally saw the draw. This is before I played Astra. So I was like, 'Dang, I have to play Kerber if I win this next round. But then I think Caroline Wozniacki was commentating, and they were like, 'Oh, who do you think is going to make it out of this section?' She's like, 'I think Kerber and Fernandez are going to play each other. I was like, 'Oh, me and Muchova aren't right here.' So I was kind of thinking about it in my head a lot during when I was playing just now."

Osaka further said:

"Yeah, I don't know if that was the reason the score was why it was today, but I don't know. I don't really say I had like a vendetta, but I was like, 'Hmm, I know I was kind of underachieving these last couple of months, but I still feel like I'm a pretty good player.' Because Wozniacki said it kind of confidently that Kerber was going to be going through."