{"id":360116,"date":"2024-01-15T18:42:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T19:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360116"},"modified":"2024-01-15T20:02:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T20:02:07","slug":"frustrated-osaka-admits-delusions-after-round-one-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360116","title":{"rendered":"'Frustrated' Osaka admits 'delusions' after round one loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moments after her grand slam comeback ended in a first-round loss, Naomi Osaka<\/a> walked back through the players' tunnel where her name has a prominent place among recent Australian Open<\/a> champions.<\/p>\n

Three matches into her return from 15 months off the tour, and six months after the birth of her daughter, Shai, Osaka lost 6-4, 7-6 (2) to 16th-seeded Caroline Garcia in a tight encounter at Rod Laver Arena on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competitive in me is really frustrated that I\u2019m not winning these matches, of course,\u201d Osaka told a post-match news conference.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine, <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on <\/strong><\/em>Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t say, like, this comeback is how I thought because I\u2019m delusional enough to think I could have won the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Naomi<\/p>\n

She smiled, before adding: \u201cI think my delusion is what allows me to win the tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, and the Australian title in 2019 and '21.<\/p>\n

This was the first time she lost in the first round in Melbourne, where she made her debut in 2016.<\/p>\n

She took time out from tennis for her own wellbeing after first-round exits at Roland-Garros and the US Open in 2022. She's not planning any more breaks for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think I just have to keep living day by day and training hard and playing a lot more matches,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd hopefully my dreams will come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big-serving Garcia didn't give Osaka a look at a break point in the match. Most of the rallies were short \u2014 only three longer than nine shots.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Why 'shattered' Demon has 'revenge' on his mind<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> 'Sad' retirement puts Demon through to second round<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Murray's retirement admission after thumping loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

The bulk were less than four. Most of the service holds were comfortable \u2014 except for Osaka's one dropped game in the first set. That was all the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of respect for Naomi as a person and as a player \u2014 15 months she\u2019s been away," Garcia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI'm very glad to see her back. Six months after giving birth, she\u2019s playing quite amazing already. We have to watch out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osaka was one of three past Australian Open champions who returned to play at Melbourne Park for the first time as mums, joining 2016 winner Angelique Kerber and 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moments after her grand slam comeback ended in a first-round loss, Naomi Osaka walked back through the players' tunnel where her name has a prominent […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360116"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360121,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360116\/revisions\/360121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/360118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}