Osaka plans to study and learn from Nadal ahead of clay season

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka intends on watching videos of Rafael Nadal ahead of the clay-court season, in an attempt to analyze how the 13-time Roland Garros champion moves on clay.

The Japanese superstar has won seven WTA titles but has never lifted a trophy on clay. Osaka is aiming to return to the Top 10 this year and the clay season is a perfect opportunity for her to accumulate ranking points, as she doesn't have many points to defend during the clay swing.

"I'm going to watch a lot of Nadal videos to see how he moves," said Osaka in an interview with WTA Tennis. "Shout out, [Carlos] Alcaraz, because he's killing it.

"I just think that knowing I'm still a student and I have to keep learning, clay and grass is something I really want to tackle this year. So I'm willing kind of to do whatever it takes to get good results. Not that results are everything, but I really want to do well."

Osaka has never made it past the fourth round at Roland Garros, although she has made quarterfinal showings at WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome.

"I'm clearly not a clay expert, but I feel like if I get my movement together, I should be pretty good," admitted the 24-year old. "I grew up on green clay, being from here, so it shouldn't be that foreign to me. And I know Madrid, Sabalenka won that last year, so I think that there are opportunities for me to do well.

"I think I just have to get my mentality together to know that every match would be a fight."