"It’s strange" - Naomi Osaka pens emotional note on her struggles, cites her desire to inspire daughter Shai after Cincinnati Open qualifiers exit

Naomi Osaka penned an emotional note discussing her struggle with tennis after her elimination from the 2024 Cincinnati Open in the qualifiers. However, she resolved to continue fighting to inspire her daughter Shai. The Japanese made her return this year after giving birth to her daughter and has been steadily trying to reach her previous level.

Though she has had incredible performances since her return, the four-time Grand Slam champion is still a shadow of her previous self. With a poor 17-14 record in 2024, the Japanese headed to the Cincinnati Open where she competed in qualifiers. And though she managed to defeat Anna Blinkova, she lost to Ashlyn Krueger in the second round, bringing her campaign to an end.

The 26-year-old took to Instagram where she penned an emotional note citing her struggles. She said that she felt strange in her body lately and couldn't understand how she was making errors that she normally wouldn't.

"My biggest issue is that I don't feel like I’m in my body. It's a strange feeling, missing balls I shouldn't miss, hitting balls softer than I remember I used to. I try and tell myself ‘it's fine you're doing great, just get through this one and keep pushing”, mentally it's really draining though. Internally I hear myself screaming ‘what the hell is happening?!?!’," Naomi Osaka said.

However, Osaka wondered what she wanted to do with this struggle and eventually concluded that she loved the process of putting in the effort and hoped to reach her desired goal.

"During this time I've wondered what do I want out of this whole experience and I realized something. I love the process (though the process doesn't love me sometimes haha), putting in work everyday and eventually having the opportunity to get to where you want to be."

Naomi Osaka said that she wanted to do her best so that she could inspire her one-year-old daughter to dream big and realize that one could achieve anything as long as one works hard.

"I know life isn't guaranteed so I want to do the best that I can with the time that I have, I want to teach my daughter that she can achieve so many things with hard work and perseverance. I want her to aim for the stars and never think her dreams are too big."

"I don't understand why everything has to feel brand new again" - Naomi Osaka voices frustration over not finding tennis as simple as 'breathing'

Naomi Osaka (Image Source: Getty)

Naomi Osaka clarified that she was feeling her rhythm in a handful of matches and mentioned that the surface transition could be a reason for her struggles. However, she said that this phase was similar to the postpartum period.

"Don't get me wrong, I've played a handful of matches this year that I felt like I was myself and I know this moment is probably is just a small phase from all the new transitions (clay, grass, clay, hard etc), however the only feeling I could liken how I feel right now to is being postpartum."

Osaka was worried about the fact that the racket didn't feel like an extension of her hand anymore and she felt that she was starting from zero. She realized that she was never grateful for tennis coming to her naturally like breathing, until now.

"That scares because I've been playing tennis since I was 3, the tennis racquet should feel like an extension of my hand. I don't understand why everything has to feel almost brand new again. This should be as simple as breathing to me but it's not and I genuinely did not give myself grace for that fact until just now."

Naomi Osaka will need a wildcard to compete at the 2024 US Open as she has exhausted her Grand Slam tournament participation using her Protected Ranking. If she doesn't get one, the Japanese will have to play the qualifiers.