Naomi Osaka’s continued struggle sparks concern among fans as Japanese suffers shock Madrid Open loss

Naomi Osaka returned to action at the 2025 Madrid Open, having last featured at this year's Miami Open. However, her first claycourt outing of the ongoing season ended in disappointment, as she fell to a shocking first-round loss to Lucia Bronzetti. The result prompted several tennis fans to voice their concerns over Osaka's continuing on-court struggles.

Osaka, a former No. 1 who is currently ranked 55th, and Bronzetti, the No. 59 from Italy, played out a topsy-turvy encounter at the Caja Magica. The Italian clinched the first set 6-4, but lost the second 2-6, taking the match into a decisive third set. Here, it was the Japanese who was more erratic of the two, and Bronzetti ruthlessly capitalized to win it 6-4, progressing to the second round of the combined WTA 1000 and ATP Masters 1000 event.

Madrid Open R1: Bronzetti def. Osaka, 6-4 2-6 6-4 byu/pizzainmyshoe intennis

Plenty of tennis fans on Reddit discussed Naomi Osaka's first-round downfall at the 2025 Madrid Open. Many of them highlighted how difficult it has been for the four-time Major champion to rediscover her finest form since making her comeback on the WTA Tour at the beginning of the 2024 season following the end of her 18-month-long pregnancy and maternity leave.

"Naomi seems to be on an endless struggle bus ride 😭😖," a fan wrote.

"Clayomi came and went sadly... Want to give a big shout out to Bronzetti though, girl was on fire throughout the match and earned that Dropzetti nickname, because those dropshots earned her a lot of points against Naomi! So good win for her," commented another.

"Hey, as long as Osaka is having fun, i'll deal with this ig. i hope she takes in more smaller clay tournaments, though. she's not necessarily as good as before to hop in and get to round 3 or 4. i hope she knows that. but i love her regardless and it would be great for her to reach the top 10 again," another fan chimed in.

Here are some more reactions from fans concerned by Naomi Osaka's recent performances and results:

"Really tough match to watch. Naomi just struggled so much on figuring out what to do. congrats to Bronzetti though, she problem solved really well this match," opined one fan.

"Osaka looks like she hates tennis more than I hate my 9-5," another added.

"The qualifier matches haven’t even finished yet and Osaka is already out of the main bracket…," weighed in yet another fan.

Naomi Osaka's highest ranking since her return to action early in the 2024 season has been World No. 42 in January this year. While she has occasionally produced glimpses of her past brilliance, for the most part, finding consistency has been a persisting issue for the Japanese. She began working with iconic coach Patrick Mouratoglou after a disappointing end to her 2024 US Open campaign to sort out the problems in her game.

It is worth noting that clay was previously regarded as one of Osaka's less-favored surfaces, along with grass. All of the Japanese player's WTA Tour-level title triumphs have come on hard courts. However, ahead of last year's French Open, she spoke up about the progress she had made on clay.

"I've dedicated a lot of time to learning about clay" - Naomi Osaka in 2024

Naomi Osaka in action at the 2024 French Open (Source: Getty)

At a pre-tournament press conference in the buildup to the 2024 French Open, Naomi Osaka sounded optimistic about her campaign at Roland Garros. Part of this optimism stemmed from the Japanese player's run to the fourth round of the 2024 Italian Open following early exits from last year's editions of the Open de Rouen and the Madrid Open.

Osaka told reporters that she had been making every effort to improve her game on clay, and that her 2024 Italian Open results were a reflection of the same.

"I think I’ve made a significant amount of progress and I feel like people can see that throughout the tournaments that I’ve played, but I feel like I’ve dedicated a lot of time to learning about clay. I want to do well and I want to keep beating really good players. Hopefully the last stop here I’ll play well too," she said.

Interestingly, one of Naomi Osaka's most impressive displays of 2024 came at the French Open. She gave eventual champion Iga Swiatek an almighty scare in the second round of the clay-court Major. The Japanese even had a match point, but unfortunately for her, Swiatek managed to remarkably turn the tables and seal a thrilling win on her way to her fourth French Open title.