Naomi Osaka says where she really needs to improve after playing her first game on grass for five years

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Naomi Osaka is keen to improve an aspect of her game following a winning start to the grass court season.

The Japanese star defeated Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round of the Libema Open to record her first match win on grass since 2019 in Birmingham.

This was the 27-year-old’s first match since she narrowly lost to Iga Swiatek in the second round of Roland Garros despite having a match point.

That is now in the rearview mirror and the former World number one is keen to make an impression on the grass, and she has made a promising start.

What does Naomi Osaka want to improve in her grass-court game?

Osaka took just 70 minutes to defeat Mertens for the fourth time in her career. The serve was pivotal to her performance, as the four-time Grand Slam champion won 90 percent of her first-serve points.

She only faced one break point which she saved and successfully took all of her opportunities to break Mertens three times.

Osaka, who finished the match with 21 winners to just 13 unforced errors, avenged her defeat to the Belgian at Indian Wells in March. After explaining what she liked about her performance, she outlined what she needs to improve.

“Definitely really happy with my serve. I felt probably more confident in it on this surface than any other surface, so I’m glad I was able to pick that up quite fast,” Osaka said post-match.

“What do I need to improve? Probably being more confident on my returns. I felt I got a little hesitant and kind of reverted back to clay court. I thought about pushing back my returns at a certain point. But I know I have to commit.”

What is Naomi Osaka’s grass court record?

Osaka’s power from the baseline and penetrative serve are ideal weapons for playing grass court tennis.

But the player has failed to make an impact on the quick low bouncing surface so far and has played just 23 grass court matches.

Her best results came at an ITF 50K event in 2015 where she reached the semi-finals and she made another last four appearance at the 2018 WTA event in Nottingham.

Osaka has never gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon but she is hoping to change that following a solid grass court season this year.

“I’m kind of taking it as if this is my first year on grass,” Osaka added. “I think even now, this is my first time at this tournament so in some ways I feel like a newbie all over again. I’ve been in Europe since April, so this is a lot of commitment for me. I’m really happy that I’m doing this.”