"Jelena Ostapenko won French Open, so maybe I should stick to my guns" - Naomi Osaka re-evaluates her claycourt game at Italian Open

Naomi Osaka examined her playing style on the claycourts during her 2024 Italian Open campaign in Rome. She compared her game to her peers on the WTA Tour and wondered if she should stick to her strengths.

Osaka began her Italian Open campaign with a confident display against Clara Burel and dismissed the Frenchwoman in straight sets 7-6 (2), 6-1 on Wednesday, May 8. This was the Japanese star's second claycourt win of the year after winning her opening-round victory at the Madrid Open. The wins are surely a confidence booster for Osaka, a hardcourt specialist who has not found success on the dirt.

In her post-match press conference in Rome, the former World No. 1 discussed her form on claycourts and whether she should consider making any changes to improve her performance. Osaka stated that she was conflicted between playing more defensively on clay or relying on her natural hard-hitting style during her campaign in Madrid and now in Rome.

"Yeah, it's been kind of tough for me because when I played my last match in Madrid, I was obviously a lot more defensive than I would have wanted. To be honest, I'm not sure if that was because of claycourt. I think I just wanted to play a little bit more rallies with her. Today I told Wim that I wanted to come out a lot stronger. Obviously, that didn't happen. So, yeah, there is a little bit of back and forth with me," Naomi Osaka said.

The 26-year-old looked at Jelena Ostapenko's triumph at the 2017 French Open and opined that maybe she, too, should stick to her natural game style. Osaka added she is trying to add more spin to her shots, and when she is successful in doing that regularly, she should start producing better results on clay.

"Sometimes I think that Ostapenko won the French Open, so maybe I should just stick to my guns. To be honest, I don't really try to bang the ball. That's, like, just what happens. I think for me, I just want to put more spin on it while rotating it a lot more. I think when I'm finally able to achieve that, it will obviously be quite heavy, so I thought that will be my clay court tennis," she continued.

Naomi Osaka has yet to win a title on a claycourt

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is among the most successful active players on the WTA Tour, with four Grand Slam titles on her resume. All four of her Major titles came on hardcourts - the US Open in 2019 and 2020 and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.

In addition, Osaka's other big titles - the 2018 Indian Wells Open and the 2019 China Open - have also been won on hardcourts. While her prowess on hardcourts is well-documented, the Japanese has not shown the same dominance on natural surfaces.

Naomi Osaka's best performance at the Wimbledon Championships and Roland Garros has been multiple third-round appearances. At the WTA 1000-level tournaments on clay, she has only reached as far as the quarterfinals. Osaka has yet to reach a tour-level final on either of the natural surfaces.