“I knew she was going to be a great player”: Naomi Osaka recalls first meeting with Coco Gauff

Naomi Osaka walked into the press room after her third-round win at the US Open with a smile, even if she admitted her performance wasn’t always convincing. The four-time major champion advanced past Daria Kasatkina in three sets, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, in what she described as “a little bit of an emotional roller coaster.” Yet Osaka’s takeaway was simple: “Overall, I’m just happy to have won.” The words carried weight, especially for someone who has returned to tennis after time away and now frames each victory differently.

She was asked about the “journey” of the match and of her comeback. Osaka leaned into a candid reflection: “Since I’ve come back, I kind of wanted everything to happen really quickly. So I think it took—like I keep saying after Wimbledon—but for me to just completely not even think about results anymore and just try to focus on every match by itself. And I did good in Montreal and now we’re here. So I’m just really happy about that, definitely pleased. I think Thomas [Wiktorowski] has been really cool to work with too. So as a journey it’s not something that I really pictured, but I’m glad to be living it.”

Even in victory, she admitted frustration had crept in when Kasatkina turned the tide in the second set. Osaka said she doesn’t script her reactions or make mental checklists about what to do when momentum shifts: “No, honestly, I’m not the type of person that does that because I don’t even like looking at the score. For me, honestly, there are some matches where I’m like surprised if the game ends or something because I keep trying to like focus on one point at a time.

"I mean, definitely you’re supposed to have game plans and backup plans. And I think for me, rather than it being a game plan, it was more like me trying to calm myself down because I felt like very nervy, shaky. And I know I was like yelling ‘come on’ a lot. So yeah.”

What excites fans now is her upcoming clash with Coco Gauff, six years after their first meeting on Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2019. Osaka still remembers what struck her about the then-15-year-old: “My recollections were that I remember just knowing that she was going to be a really great tennis player, which I was right. But yeah, I mean, she was what, 15 at the time, and I thought she just handled herself really well. And I knew she was going to be back there. So now to be playing her again after six years, I don’t know if that makes me old. But yeah, just to be at this point of my life and to be playing her again is honestly, for me, feels kind of special.”

Looking ahead to her battle with Gauff, Osaka didn’t hide her admiration. “Honestly, for me it’s the journey getting back here. And then obviously we had like a really special moment here that a lot of people remember. So for me also, she’s like the main star of the U.S. Open and I didn’t play on Ashe yet. So it’s just a combination of all those things. And then also, like after I had Shai, I came to the U.S. Open to watch her play. I think it was a semifinal. So I don’t know. I just feel happy because I feel like all of my hard work is amounting to something.”

She also reflected on their other duels, particularly the Beijing clash: “Honestly, the one that I remember the most, I think it’s because it’s the most recent, was the one in Beijing, which I thought was really unfortunate because I felt like I was playing well. So I’m honestly excited to play her now because I feel healthy and I just want to see what happens.”

The Japanese star is also keeping perspective on what’s next. “Yeah, I mean, there’s definitely been a lot that has happened since Shai was born and, you know, to be back here in this round at this tournament is definitely something that’s really special to me. I hope that I can keep going farther and farther in this tournament and then obviously the Asian swing is next and I’m really excited to play in Japan and China because I missed the Japan part of the season last year. So I think for me, what I realized is no matter what, this year is definitely better than last year anyway. So I just have to keep being positive.”

For a player once defined by dominance, Osaka is now defined by honesty. Her willingness to share her nerves, frustrations, and joy is what makes her comeback resonate far beyond the scorelines. The journey may not have been straightforward, but as she put it: “I’m just happy to be smiling.”