NAOMI Osaka quickly turned her focus to the 2024 Paris Olympics following suffering an early exit from Wimbledon at the hands of American Emma Navarro on Wednesday (3/7).
The Japanese tennis star, playing at the All England Club for the first time since 2019, lost 6-4, 6-1 in his second-round match at Wimbledon on Centre Court in less than an hour.
The pair were tied 3-3 in the first set before the four-time Grand Slam champion lost her way. Osaka admitted she lacked confidence.
“Honestly, I felt like even though at the beginning we were kind of trading games, for some reason, I didn’t feel completely confident,” Osaka said.
“I didn’t feel like I played that well. I think the doubt started to creep into my game a lot. Obviously the second set wasn’t that great,” he continued.
Navarro, ranked 17th in the world, took the first set, and continued his good form in the second to lead 4-0 and repeat the feat once more to close out the match.
Also read: In Order to Appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Rafael Nadal Admits He is Ready to Miss Wimbledon
Osaka’s victory over Diane Parry in the opening round on Monday was the Japanese player’s first win at Wimbledon since 2018.
Osaka is now ranked 113th following returning to the tour in January following the birth of her daughter, Shai, last year.
Osaka said she was unsure what her schedule would look like but called the 2024 Paris Olympics her priority.
Read also: Naomi Osaka Knocked Out in Second Round of Wimbledon
He reached the third round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Paris 2024 Olympic tennis tournament will be held on the clay courts of Roland Garros, where Osaka recently played champion and world number one Iga Swiatek at the French Open.
“Because I got knocked out early, I really wanted to take my time and train for the Olympics because I wanted to do well,” Osaka said.
“I probably prefer clay courts to grass courts now,” he concluded. (Ant/Z-1)
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