THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 2, 2025

Naomi Osaka

Press Conference

N. OSAKA/K. Siniakova

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Can you just give us your thoughts on the match today?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I thought I played pretty solid. I was just glad that I was able to win in, I think, a relatively good score.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First, Happy Birthday to Shai. Two, this is your first time, well, since 2018, you're getting to the third round of Wimbledon. Does that play into your mind, or are you just going with the flow for now?

NAOMI OSAKA: Honestly, no. I'm kind of going with the flow. I had a talk with Patrick before this tournament about expectations, so I'm literally taking it one point at a time, and I'm not trying to, I guess, think about the rounds too much.

Q. You have, in the past, been very successful at the hard court slams. How comfortable do you feel on the grass now, and what do you think about your chances going deep in this tournament?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I don't really think about my chances. I don't know. Hopefully I'll be able to play many more matches.

I think definitely this year I feel a lot more comfortable moving on grass. I know the last couple of years I was really scared to move, because when I was younger, I strained my knee or whatever. It took a couple of years to get over that, but I definitely feel a lot more comfortable.

Q. I want to ask a question, in part, relating to America's great man of conscious in tennis, Arthur Ashe, who 50 years ago scored a victory here that changed the tennis world and will be celebrated. I'm asking in the context of all you've done and your Haitian heritage. He once, after being honored at the US Open, went to Washington D.C. where he was arrested in front of the White House for defending the rights of Haitian immigrants. Are you aware of that? Are you aware of the situation with Haitian immigrants these days? Do you have any thoughts, and can you share?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, definitely I'm aware of the situation. My dad was in Haiti. He's here with me right now, so I'm really grateful for that.

But I would say every time I hear news about Haiti, it kind of breaks my heart because I always feel like it's really unfair, and I think that people have a really negative image of Haiti. To me it's one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Yeah, it really sucks.

Q. Did you know about Arthur's involvement, and any thoughts about that?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. He's kind of a very big pioneer. For me definitely when I was younger, it was really cool to have someone like him as a role model or as kind of a figure head or someone that I could really look up to. He is definitely really stylish, so that helped a lot, too.

Yeah, I think he's done a lot of really incredible things in his career.

Q. Tennis is one of the sports where you can have a really heartbreaking loss, and then they put you in front of a microphone to speak. I know you've had your fair share of difficult moments like that. Can you talk a little bit about the challenge of saying the right thing in a moment when you are feeling that low? The reason I'm asking this is recently there's been, like, Sabalenka's press conference after the French Open. I don't know if you know what she said. Holger Rune the other day disrespected the guy who upset him. That kind of stuff. Do we take it for granted that everybody should be a gracious loser? Do you ever feel like you want to be a sore loser, but you are holding onto it?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I really think it depends on someone's personality. I know for me whenever I lose, I just think I'm the worst player in the world. So, yeah, I've definitely had my fair share of really bad losses.

But I don't know, it's tough. Every player that you play against, they're one of the best players in the world. For me that's the mentality I sort of take into it.

Yeah, I would say there's some people that are really good losers and some people that aren't, but I also feel like the people that aren't good losers, that's also a part of the reason why they're here. You know, they think that they're the best in the world, and obviously they are.

So, yeah, I don't think if I was -- if I played someone and they talked trash after, I wouldn't really care because obviously I won and they lost, and they're probably going through a lot, so...

Q. I wanted to ask about your journey with grass. I guess before you ever stepped foot on it, I'm sure you watched plenty of it, and a lot of your favorite players were very good on grass years ago. I'm curious for you what it was like when grass didn't come super naturally to you early in your career, and then how good it feels to maybe have turned a corner and no longer feel inhibited or reluctant on it, like you were saying?

NAOMI OSAKA: You know what's ironic is at the beginning of the tournament when I did my press, I don't know who asked me this, but basically it was a question about my first time playing on grass. Then I had a solid thought about it, and I realize, like, when I was younger, I had no fear. I think when you are young, you fear nothing, and that's one of the really cool things about it.

But I don't know, with age fear kind of crept along and, I guess, paralyzed me in a way. Now I'm kind of just getting over that and trying to spread my wings on grass. I think it is working, and I think I am moving pretty well.

Yeah, I just hope that in years to come and hopefully this year I can do a lot better in this tournament.

Q. Is the fear gone, or is it still a process to exercise the remnants of the demons?

NAOMI OSAKA: You know, actually, I'm pretty comfortable moving on grass. Like, it kind of reminds me of hard court, like a very different hard court, of course. I quite like it now.

Q. When did you realize you were like, oh, this feels good all of a sudden now, and what was that realization like?

NAOMI OSAKA: Actually, it was after I lost in Berlin, which it was a tough loss, but I felt like for a first-round grass match it wasn't that bad because I had originally planned to play Queen's, but mentally I didn't feel ready after losing in the French, so I skipped that.

Yeah, I had, like, a pretty strange -- pretty high amount of confidence for someone that lost in the first round.

Q. I don't know whether you saw it, but Alexander Zverev said some really poignant, touching comments about feeling deeply alone on court and off court, having no motivation when he woke up in bed each morning and just feeling at the bottom of a pit, so to speak. You've spoken about these issues so often, but my question is, what would you say to your fellow pros who feel lost, empty, and are not finding joy?

NAOMI OSAKA: I'm not laughing at the question. I'm just laughing, like, I don't know if I'm the person that should be giving advice. What would I say?

It's really hard to, like, have a statement, you know? I usually have to think about it for hours, but I would say, like, I guess every moment of life, even though it's kind of cliche, is a little temporary. I don't know. Life is serious and not serious at the same time.

If you don't enjoy something that much, you can always do something else. I'm not telling him he should stop playing tennis. I'm pretty sure a lot of people want him to continue playing tennis, but I don't know. I always think people should do what makes them happy no matter what.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: I think the line judge thing, it's kind of a really good thing and a really bad thing all at once, because sometimes I feel like the calls are a little suspicious. I also feel like you can't argue with someone, so it kind of just moves the match along. You kind of know that if there is something wrong with the system, then the other person is also having to deal with that, too. I think in today's match I did play very controlled, and I was quite happy with that. I think I'm also finding my game a lot better on grass. I don't feel as rushed as I used to.

I mean, I think today I just focused a lot on being calm and also knowing that if I needed to run, I could run. So, yeah, just not feeling panicked and needing to overplay or hit winners. It was more kind of watching what she did and trying to place my ball in good areas.

I definitely thought about Shai's birthday today while I was playing my match. I was really trying to be focused. I don't know. I was hoping to be back by 7:45 (smiling). I don't know why I'm doing these really long answers to your guys' questions. Yeah, I don't know. I woke up this morning and kind of laid in bed with her, and I felt really grateful to, I guess, be living the life that I'm living because I get to travel with her. She's so young, but she's already been to so many different places. It really is a blessing for me. I'm just excited for when she grows older and she can come with me to site. Yeah, I'm rambling. It's 7:35. I got to go, but yeah, I did think about her birthday during the match today. I'm really grateful that I was able to win in order to play a next match.