“Just want to be seeded so I can stop playing Caroline Garcia” – Naomi Osaka jokes about drawing Frenchwoman again after Miami Open 2R win

Naomi Osaka recently joked about drawing Caroline Garcia for the third time in 2024 itself after she defeated Elina Svitolina at the Miami Open 2024.

Since her return postpartum in 2024, Osaka competed in five tournaments including the Brisbane International, Australian Open, Abu Dhabi Open, Qatar Open, and the Indian Wells Open before setting foot in Miami this week.

In those five campaigns, Osaka has interestingly met Garcia twice and is gearing up for a third meeting in the third round in Miami. As far as their head-to-head record for the current season is concerned, they are tied at 1-1; Osaka leads 2-1 in the overall tally.

Garcia received a walkover in her second-round match as her opponent Viktoriya Tomova retired while trailing 6-1, 5-2. On the other hand, Osaka downed Svitolina 6-2, 7-6(5) on Saturday, March 23, in her second-round effort to join Garcia in the third.

Naomi Osaka sat with the press following her Saturday victory and hilariously voiced her wish to quickly return among the seeded players to avoid clashing with Garcia any further.

"Man, we're friends at this point. We're just, you know, work buddies. We see each other all the time. It's funny. I just want to be seeded so I can just stop playing her, like," Naomi Osaka said during her post-match press conference.

The Japanese tennis icon first battled against Garcia in the first round in Melbourne and suffered a 6-4, 7-6(2) loss. A few weeks later, she came face to face with the 30-year-old in Doha and earned a 7-5, 6-4 first-round win.

Osaka further described her matchups against Garcia as difficult. She said:

"She [Caroline Garcia] is an amazing player. I know this. Every match we play is really difficult. It's just going to be interesting playing on these courts because I really like these hard courts."

Garcia is ranked No. 27 on the women's tour while Osaka, a former World No. 1, sits in the 229th position.

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Naomi Osaka: "I'm trying to get better at returning"

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka's victory over Elina Svitolina at the Miami Open on Saturday required the former to convert three out of five break points she earned and also fend three out of the four that the Ukrainian created.

During the same press conference in Miami, Osaka noted that the break-points were critical in the context of the close match that lasted for 91 minutes.

"I feel like the break points were extremely valuable. I felt like for me, that's one of the key things I was trying to get better at I guess from the start of the year, from Australia," the former World No. 1 said.

She further admitted to working hard on her returning ability, saying:

"I'm trying to get better at returning. I feel like it did pay off at the important moments, so I'm happy about that."

Osaka has also stated earlier this year that she is taking cues from Novak Djokovic's form to improve her return game.