An emotional Naomi Osaka held back tears on Monday after losing in the first round of the French Open.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka has struggled to return to form since missing the entire 2023 season due to her pregnancy, and she suffered another disappointing result at Roland Garros.
The 27-year-old committed 54 unforced errors as she lost 7-6(1), 1-6, 4-6 to world No. 10 Paula Badosa, and she was visibly upset afterwards during a press conference which she briefly walked out of as she welled up.
‘I hate disappointing people. Even with [her coach] Patrick [Mouratoglou], I was thinking just now – he goes from working with like the greatest player ever to like, what the f*** this is,’ she said.
Mouratoglou worked with Serena Williams for a decade between 2012 and 2022.
Osaka was also asked if it was getting harder to deal with losing, to which she softly replied ‘yes’ before expanding on her answer.
Naomi Osaka was emotional after losing to Paula Badosa in the first round of the French Open
Osaka has struggled in Slams since she won the Aussie Open in early 2021
‘I think as time goes on I feel like I should be doing better,’ she said.
She also attempted to diagnose what went wrong against Badosa, who achieved the best Slam result of her career earlier this year as she made the Australian Open semis.
‘I think she was probably more aggressive or something,’ Osaka said. ‘I feel like that’s a mistake I’ve made the last two matches.
The two-time champion at both the Aussie and US Open has previously opened up on her issues with depression and anxiety, and said she would skip press conferences ahead of the 2021 French Open, saying critical questions about her play affected her mental health.
After keeping her word following a first round win, Osaka was fined $15,000 and threatened with expulsion from the tournament.
Osaka committed 54 unforced errors against world No. 10 Badosa on Monday
She soon decided to withdraw from the tournament altogether.
‘The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that,’ she said in a statement at the time.
Osaka has not made it past the third round of a Slam since she won the Aussie Open in 2021.
Last summer, she upset Jelena Ostapenko in the US Open first round to earn her first top-10 win in more than four years, but dropped a frustrating match next round to eventual semifinalist Karolina Muchova.
