Naomi Osaka has managed to hang tough in the dirt courts of Paris as she chases her third Grand Slam trophy in a row. With a hard fought three set victory over former grand slam winner Victoria Azarenka who once was a top ten payer in the WTA Naomi is charting toward her third major title in a row. By winning the French Open she will have moved a step further toward establishing herself as one of the top players in the game of tennis. As a Japanese-Haitian player she is representing us in big way, especially these days.
After a grueling clay court season where Naomi Osaka had to withdraw from tournaments twice because of injuries she seems ready to get her third slam as she heads into a third round match Saturday against Katerina Siniakova. The world No. 1 player will retain her ranking regardless of the outcome of this tournament and this will remove a lot of the pressure from Naomi since this will free her mind of having to worry about that. This may be the cure the doctor ordered as Naomi has lost the first set of each of her matches at Roland Garros. In the first match she faced defeat twice as her opponent served for the match only to falter when faced with the steel resolve that is Naomi’s strength. Her Asiatic African heritage from Japan and Haiti is the combination that is driving her toward victory even in the face of defeat. In her first match of the tournament Osaka won 0-6, 7-6 and 6-1 over Schmiedlova narrowly avoiding defeat after having a good cry in the second set. Yesterday she beat Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 after once again losing the first set with less drama.
This is the last meeting on clay for the season and although she had a decent record of five victories vs one defeat the move to the grass courts in England and the hard courts in the U.S. leading to the U.S. open will help Naomi’s power game. Her serve which is one of her biggest weapon should be a great asset in Wimbledon, the Grand Slam tournament in England. So if Naomi can gut it out and win the French she will have a very favorable surface to achieve the elusive non calendar year Grand Slam, four in a row. So she needs to stay away from the wine, watch the food she eats and early to bed. This is a good time for all her fans to get behind Naomi Osaka and wish her good luck and Sak Pase in Paris.
Dèyè Mon 