Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is determined to make some strong results this clay season as she plans to watch videos of Rafael Nadal and analyze how the record 13-time French Open champion moves on clay. Osaka has seven titles in her collection but she has never had a victorious run at a clay tournament.
Osaka is aiming to return to the top-10 this year and the clay season is a perfect opportunity for her to gain a large chunk of points since 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,” Osaka said, per the WTA Tour website.
“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: Improving my movement key to success
Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion but she hasn’t had much success at the French Open. Osaka, 24, has never made it past the third round at Roland Garros.
Even though Oskaa has never won a clay title, she has had quarterfinal appearances at the Masters 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.
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,” Osaka added. “I think I just have to get my mentality together to know that every match would be a fight.”
