Naomi Osaka names the three ATP players who have inspired her after watching them recently

Follow us on Google Discover

Naomi Osaka stated the names of three players on the ATP Tour who have inspired her.

In January the Japanese star returned to the tour following a 16-month hiatus during which she gave birth to her daughter Shai.

She is slowly trying to recover her best tennis and build some momentum on the clay, a surface she has struggled on throughout her career.

The 27-year-old is embracing the challenge of improving her level on the gruelling and high-bouncing surface and she has looked to some of the world’s best players for extra encouragement.

Osaka is learning from three of the ATP’s best players

Osaka has made a strong start to the Italian Open. She recorded her first victory at the Foro Italico since 2019 with an opening round win over Clara Burel.

She consolidated that victory by beating Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 to claim her first win over a top-20 player on clay.

Following the match, Osaka spoke to reporters about watching the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and reigning Madrid champion Andrey Rublev and what she has leant from them.

“I’m just really excited to learn more about clay court and develop and go to Paris,” she said. “Shai is coming to Paris, so that’s something that’s keeping me very, I don’t know, happy.

“I watched Rafa. I watched Alcaraz. I watched Rublev actually, which is very inspiring because he’s smacking the ball.

“I kind of thought to myself, like, I don’t want to have regrets when I leave the court. In Madrid I did kind of have regrets of not swinging fully. Focusing on that a lot, yeah.”

Who is Naomi Osaka’s next opponent?

After claiming successive wins on clay for the first time since 2019, Osaka’s form heading into Roland Garros certainly seems to be heading in the right direction.

She will face the tricky Daria Kasatkina in third round of the Italian Open, someone the four-time Grand Slam winner has yet to play against.

They have previously practiced together though, and Osaka has some bad memories of that recent session in Madrid.

“I think I’ve said this before, but she smacked me in Madrid real bad. It was actually embarrassing,” she added.

“I felt like I had to apologise to her after that practice. But I’m going into this match knowing that, you know, she has way more experience than me on clay.”