French Open 2024: Nervousness Quite Palpable on 4x Major Champion Naomi Osaka’s Face Amid R1 Battle With Lucia Bronzetti

Naomi Osaka almost has her heart in her mouth ahead of the French Open. While she didn’t attend the French Open tour last year, her Italian Open performance assured her fans about her clay court improvement. “Stressing out” about the debut Round, Osaka brings smiles to her fans’ faces by revealing her wish to grow “into a better player”.

In a recent press conference for the upcoming French Open tour, Naomi Osaka seemed visibly nervous about her first round against Lucia Bronzetti. “Man now you’re stressing me out um I’m I dont think I have played her um not to my knowledge so you know I’ve seen her around and um I know that anyone that’s playing this tournament is a really tough opponent so plus it’s a first round of a slam um I’m usually quite nervous during those uh first round matches so um I’m just going in there trying my best and um seeing if all the lessons that I’ve learned so far uh have adopted me into a better player”- she said to the reporter.

Given that this four-time Grand Slam champion has never won a match on a clay court when her opponent’s rank was within 20 previously, this nervousness seemed quite practical. On top of that, Osaka’s lack of experience with Bronzetti makes her Roland Garros dream tougher than usual. While she didn’t attend this tour last year, her 2024 season record is 12-9, with 4-3 on the clay surface.

Despite difficulties, this Japanese WTA star presented visible signs of improvement in the Italian Open. In Rome’s clay court this year, she debuted her victory on clay surface after defeating Marta Kostyuk, who ranked within WTA 20 and assured fans with a slight hope for Paris.

While Osaka is anxious, her baby daughter Shai has joined her mother with an exciting surprise, making Osaka’s French open tour happier than before.

Naomi Osaka feels amazing as “Shai is coming to Paris”

After a year of maternity leave, balancing tennis and motherhood was hard for Osaka and she has spoken about this challenge before. Now that Shai has joined her in Paris, things are surely a lot better for Osaka. “Shai (her daughter) is coming to Paris, so that’s something that’s keeping me very happy”- she said before.

Not just that, Osaka revealed that she saw Shai walking for the first time, which is a big thing for her as a mother. “Yesterday, she walked for the first time, so I was really happy about that, We’re going to practice some more when I get back. But it’s really cool to have her here, just to see how much she’s grown and how many things she’s doing differently. It’s kind of surreal. I mean, being away from her was really tough, but I called her every day, I saw how well she was doing and I saw how happy she was, so that made me happy,”- said Osaka.

Naomi Osaka’s nervousness about the Roland Garros first round is practical. However, with her daughter Shai in Paris, fans hope Osaka to ease her nervousness and unleash her A-game on the clay surface.