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."

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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."