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via Reuters

via Reuters

Ahead of her participation in Australian tennis summer, Naomi Osaka has been balancing her tennis practices with off-court activities. She’s been busy doing brand endorsements, and also attending various events.

Naomi Osaka attends Kanye West and Drake’s concert in Los Angeles

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Recently, the four-time Grand Slam champion was in Los Angeles to attend Kanye West and Drake’s concert. The Japanese shared a picture of the live event on her Instagram stories.

Despite having a dry run on the WTA tour this year, Osaka manages to win the affection of fans by participating in several off-court activities.

Looking at her 2022 season, the Japanese player is all set to participate in warm-up events ahead of Australian Open. Osaka, along with Simona Halep and Emma Raducanu, has confirmed her participation for the Melbourne Summer Set events which include two WTA 250 tournaments.

Ever since falling to Leylah Fernandez in the US Open third round, Osaka had taken a break from tennis and chose to enter the tour in 2022. Adding a couple of events ahead of the ‘happy slam’ will indeed boost her chances of defending the title.

USA Today via Reuters

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Osaka had a tough run this year on the WTA tour

It has been a tough year for the Japanese player as she faced numerous obstacles on and off the court since winning her fourth major title in Melbourne. As Osaka was expected to continue the momentum from Australia, she couldn’t adapt her game to suit the demands of the clay-court.

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As a result, her performances on red-dirt this year weren’t up to the mark and she retired from the French Open owing to the controversy that erupted after her decision to skip post-match press conferences.

Since Roland Garros, Osaka has taken a break and focus on her well-being before making a comeback at the US hard-court summer. Even that run didn’t turn out as expected for the Japanese player as she ended her run in New York with a three-set defeat to the Canadian rising star, Leylah Fernandez.

USA Today via Reuters

Even though Naomi Osaka might have had a difficult year on the WTA tour, she will be one of the favorites entering the Australian Open provided if she manages to go deep in both the warm-up events scheduled in Melbourne.

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