The 2025 season is massive for Naomi Osaka. With the past few seasons not going her way, the Japanese star has closely assessed her future in the sport. The results will have to be good for her next year if she has to stay around in the tennis circuit. Osaka will begin her preparation for the Australian Open at the ASB Classic in Auckland, a WTA 250 event. She will be up against a little-known opponent from Israel.

Osaka, the seventh seed in Auckland, will take on 24-year-old Lina Glushko. The latter has never made it to the top 200 in the WTA rankings and is currently placed on the 221st spot. Additionally, she has yet to experience the biggest stage in the tennis world, having never played a Grand Slam main draw match before. Thus, the ASB Classic presents a wonderful opportunity for the Israeli star to announce herself in the tennis world.

However, Glushko has regularly featured in the ITF tournaments and also has won three titles. Lina Glushko comes from a tennis-playing family and her elder sister, Julia, was ranked as high as Number 79 once in the WTA rankings. Glushko entered the ASB Classic main draw as a qualifier and won both her qualifying rounds against Louisa Chirico and Monique Barry. She will look to continue her winning run against Osaka when they face each other in the first round.

On the contrary, Osaka will look for a bright start to her 2025 campaign. She is desperately hoping for the results to go her way and even admitted to not sticking to tennis if her results go otherwise. “I don’t think I’m the type of player that would hang around. I have a lot of respect for all the players on tour, but the point of my life that I’m at right now, if I’m not above a certain ranking, I don’t see myself playing for a while,” she once revealed.

Nonetheless, Osaka was proud of the way her 2024 season panned out after making a comeback from her maternity leave. Ahead of the ASB Classic, she reflected on her performances in 2024.

Naomi Osaka “grew a lot” during the 2024 season

The Japanese star had some inspiring results in 2024 despite failing in the Grand Slam events. She reached the quarterfinal of the Qatar Open apart from a few pre-quarterfinal appearances in Masters events. Despite being nowhere close to her best, Osaka is looking to take cues from her 2024 season to grow further.

During an interview, she said, “I think 2024 humbled me, but I think I also grew a lot. I worked way harder than I ever have before and it was very painful to not get the results I wanted, but I feel like I am growing and learning. And I’m really excited for this year. I played some really good matches [in 2024]. What keeps me going in tennis is, I guess, stepping on the court and learning something new every day. And obviously I’m really competitive, I love to win tournaments, to win matches, to play the best players in the world and see what I can achieve.”

Osaka will open her campaign at the ASB Classic early tomorrow against Lina Glushko. Apart from her, some other renowned names at the tournament include Madison Keys and Emma Raducanu. The Japanese star will have to be at her absolute best if she is to win the tournament because she will be facing a formidable challenge every step of the way. Will the Japanese star go all the way and lift the title in Auckland?