US OPEN

August 23, 2025

Naomi Osaka

Press Conference

An interview with:

NAOMI OSAKA

THE MODERATOR: Naomi, obviously a tournament you know very well. How are you feeling and how has practice been the past few days?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. Practice has been good, too.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. It's the first time we have seen you since the final in Canada. I just wondered, in the aftermath of that, the presentation, et cetera, how did you process the next few days? I just wondered how you felt when you came off court and settled down into trying to think about what had happened there.

NAOMI OSAKA: Honestly, I'm going to try to word it so I don't get caught up.

But I don't really know what was written, to be honest. I just got messages from people telling me what's potentially being written. So to this day, I honestly couldn't know what you're referring to.

But, like, I know you're talking about the congratulations part, yeah. So for that, I made sure to talk to her, because I know she's young. I don't know. Like, I feel really terrible if that, like, somehow impacted her humongous success.

But she said it didn't and she didn't even really notice, so I was really glad about that. I was also really glad that she's such a sweet girl, which also just made me feel terrible even more.

Yeah, I don't know. I feel like for me, I was just trying to get through it so quickly that I forget a lot of things. And even going into the final, I wanted to, like, potentially write my speech, because I know how I am talking and doing speeches. So that was, like, kind of a lesson to stick to my instinct a little.

Yeah, I will definitely remember to congratulate my opponents.

Q. Shai is very young, but when she's old enough to ask you about your experiences here at the US Open, what are the most important things you will tell her?

NAOMI OSAKA: About this tournament in particular?

Q. Your experience at this tournament.

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I feel like I have had a lot of experiences at this tournament. I think what I would tell her is this is probably my favorite and the greatest tournament for me. I have so many really cool memories here. I also have some not-so-cool memories here.

I don't know. For me, the US Open is an embodiment of New York, and it's very loud and busy, but it's also really special.

Q. After that difficult final, in the days after, were you able to reflect on the positive aspects of that week and that tournament where obviously you made a big breakthrough and made a big final?

NAOMI OSAKA: I would say yes and no. Yes, because obviously, like, my biggest goal was to be seeded in a tournament, and that's something that kind of I knew immediately.

Then no, because I just felt really bad and, like, shame. I think I felt worse for my team, because we couldn't really celebrate properly. They were with me this entire time, so they knew how big of a deal the final was. Just knowing that I can go back to I don't want to say "that level," but just know that I can be there.

Q. What do you mean by "shame"?

NAOMI OSAKA: Like if I did very greatly offend Victoria, like that part.

Q. Going back to the US Open, what you were saying about the embodiment of the city and all that, I'm wondering, from the first time you came here, did you like those things about it? Were you comfortable here? Or did that take some adjustment of a few trips to feel okay with those aspects of this place?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I'm okay with it, because I grew up here. So as a little kid, I used to be in those stands. I have always wondered what it would feel like to be the one actually playing.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's fun. I don't know. I think it's something that you just kind of grow up watching, and then you're finally there.

Q. In the last 11 years, only one player has won two US Opens, and she's sitting right over there. What are your thoughts about what it does take to do well here multiple times and why it hasn't happened for others?

NAOMI OSAKA: Honestly, I wouldn't know really. I think for me... I don't know. I kind of always told people I'm a hard court player, and obviously that speaks in my results.

But I would say to do well here, as much as I love the noise, you kind of have to block it out at the same time and just focus on doing your best one match at a time.

I honestly didn't even know that stat was a thing, so that's kind of wild.

Q. You mentioned there about considering even, like, writing your speech ahead of that final. How difficult or how much does it affect you thinking you're going to have to do a speech whether you win or lose?

NAOMI OSAKA: Hmm... I mean, you kind of know it going into it. But obviously I thought I had...

It's weird. I have experience and also not as much experience talking or speaking or doing speeches. I think the amount of finals that I have been in since I have been back is literally two, and one of them I definitely fumbled the first speech, so I hope no one looks it up, but I was, like, stuttering a lot.

Yeah, I just kind of figured that since I knew what I did wrong in the first speech I could kind of get it a little bit right in the second speech, but clearly it didn't work out that way. Maybe the third time's a charm. But I'll write something down for the third one.

Q. Your last tournament was your best run. What are some of the things that you did from there, whether it was mentally or technical, that will help you for the US Open this year?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I think mentally, physically, I mean, I'm working with a new coach. He's really great. I don't know. He's just incredibly helpful. He cuts to the chase, and he makes me feel like he's kind of an encyclopedia of tennis, so it's good to have someone like that in your corner.

Physically, I feel really good. I feel like I'm getting to balls very quickly, so that's very helpful, because it makes me feel not as pressured to try to end the point.

Given we kind of adapt our, like, game plan to who I'm playing, yeah, it should be a really interesting tournament.

Q. There are these lists that come out roughly once a year or so of the highest-earning tennis players on court and off court. I'm curious how much you pay attention to those, how much they matter and how accurate you think they are? Because you have been on this list many times in the past.

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, honestly I don't really pay attention to it. For me, the list that I'm currently paying attention to is the ranking list. For me, that's the only one that I'd want to see my name at the top of.

I think everything else is kind of a consequence of how well I can do on the court.

Q. Talking about the experience of playing with Gael for the mixed doubles, who embodies joy and joie de vivre on the court. Maybe what you learned from the experience?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, that's my GOAT right there. He's super kind. He's exactly how I would think of when I see him just constantly telling me, like, Good point, or to keep going. Super adorable.

We were talking about our kids. I was joking that we're Team Parents because we both have daughters. He was saying they should go on a play date, which I think was super cute.

Yeah, it's kind of interesting. I don't think he knows how important of a figure he is to tennis players like me, because back when the Miami Open was the Sony Ericsson, I would literally go, like when I was 10, 12, 13, to watch him and Tsonga. I vividly remember sitting there in the heat just waiting for his specific match to come on.

So to play with him was really cool.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, it's kind of funny you're asking me that, because I do, like, I do pay attention and I do realize there is, like, familiar faces that leave and new faces that come.

I don't know. I feel like Japanese tennis is definitely really interesting, because everyone is really good. Also, everyone kind of has a different, I would say, potential or game style or just career paths.

But I have, like, I usually joke and I say I have different GOATs. In Montreal I was watching Ito, and she's so fun to me. Like, every time she's on my TV, I'm just stuck there, because the way she hits the slice, but I can see that she's very smart and she's thinking about where to hit the ball.

But it's just, it's so interesting, because I love watching people that play how I could never play.

Yeah, so for right now when you said "Japanese tennis," I think of her, because she's the one that her matches are the most intriguing to me.

I think honestly Montreal was a great tournament, and it was kind of an accumulation of the past year and a half or since whenever I have been back.

I think for me, I always told people I might have the level but maybe I just lack the confidence or the consistency and the string of wins to, like, keep that going.

But I think in Montreal, I played a lot of different types of players and also I played Samsonova and she had two match points on her serve. So winning that match gave me a lot of confidence to keep going.

Honestly, if there was a moment, it was probably that moment that just made me feel like I could do it, question mark.

Yeah, I think when I was searching for a new coach, I just wanted someone with a lot of knowledge. I don't really like questioning if someone really knows what they're talking about, so I just like someone who's kind of, like I know. You know what I mean? You kind of know in the back of your head so you're not stressed or you're just really relieved. So that was kind of my thing.

And also he's, like, done a lot in my game in a very short amount of time that have been really simple fixes, but they've just also been kind of mind-blowing at the same time, for me.

I don't think he's done much technically yet. He kind of says, We keep... Oh, my God, my English, what's wrong with me? Isn't that crazy? Like it's crazy.

Sorry. Okay. So he says that we're constantly close to tournaments, so he doesn't want to change things technically yet. So maybe we'll, like, revisit that in the offseason.

Yeah, I would say more tactically and, like, court awareness. I don't know if he wants me to tell people, but he, like, draws a little court sometimes, and he'll like put markers on where I should hit or where we think is, like, the best shot selection. So I think he's just giving me more knowledge about structure.