THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2026

Naomi Osaka

Press Conference

N. OSAKA/A. Gasanova

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Naomi, just some initial thoughts on the match today.

NAOMI OSAKA: Initial thoughts? I mean, I've never played her before, so it was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me. But again, I'm glad that I was able to win in straight sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Tomorrow is your daughter's birthday. Can you talk a bit about the challenges you face as a mum on tour and how are things improving or do you still feel that things need to change? How will you spend tomorrow?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, as a mom on tour, I could say that, like, my situation is really privileged because I'm able to bring someone from home on the road with me. I don't have to worry too much.

Obviously I do still worry. When I'm not with her, I try to race immediately back home so I can be with her and all the things.

It's not like I have to bring her on the site to on-site daycare or anything like that. In that way I'd say I'm very privileged.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, I see all the moms on tour doing amazing. For me, that means a lot and it makes me really happy. That's one of the things I connected with Taylor Townsend a lot on.

Yeah, maybe we should all start like a mom group chat or something (smiling).

Q. Can you talk through your process of going through these long tournaments. Is it day by day, match by match? Do you still find tension grows for you? Does it dissipate as the wins start to pile up?

NAOMI OSAKA: I would say it depends on the match and also the opponent. I think today for some reason I felt a lot more nervous than I did in my first round. That was a little strange.

I don't know. I think for me, obviously I have a goal of what I want to achieve this tournament. Just I guess to play someone I've never played before, it was something new.

As far as goals and things that I do... I feel like Grand Slams are kind of always the same. Luckily we get the day break. We just try to fix the things that we think need fixing. The day after's a match day.

Q. What did you think of Serena's match yesterday? Have your kids gotten together to play? Little one is the same age as yours.

NAOMI OSAKA: I think she lives in Florida, though.

Q. I mean, here.

NAOMI OSAKA: No, honestly, I haven't seen her in person.

I watched the match until the second set was over, then I had to go to sleep because I was first on today. It was really cool. Obviously, like, the montages that they had before the match started made me really emotional because I feel like I've watched her growing up. Now I feel like I'm grown up and I get the privilege of watching her again.

So it was really cool.

Q. You talked about feeling more comfortable on this surface now. Now that you do feel more comfortable, are you able to see how it actually helps your game? Obvious parts of your game suit grass. Do you feel that now?

NAOMI OSAKA: I would say I do feel that. Like, there are definitely strengths that I can utilize here. I'm not sure. It's interesting 'cause it took me a really long time to figure out the difference between, like, all the clay court tournaments.

I feel like here, on my first practice, from Germany to here I can figure out this grass is completely different. I think I'm still adjusting to it a little bit.

For sure, when I'm playing my opponents on grass, I do feel like I have a little bit, like my game does give me a little bit of benefits.

Q. You've spoken before about your introverted nature, which is a contrast to your big, bold outfits on court. What is your inspiration when it comes to fashion, and why is it so important to you?

NAOMI OSAKA: My inspiration when it comes to fashion? I don't know. I feel like my inspiration can be anything.

But I told this story before. I grew up in Florida for the most part when I was in my development years or whatever. Then I took a trip to Japan one day. Then obviously you go to Harajuku and you see everyone expressing themselves through clothes. It was just so cool and colorful. That stuck out to me a lot. I kind of used that in my fashion experimentation.

I don't really ever have a plan when it comes to clothes. I think it's okay to try something and fail, but I'd rather just try it and see how it goes, so...

Q. Another fashion question. Taylor Fritz was talking about if you're doing the walkout, like he feels nervous about it, if he goes out in the first round, you don't want to do a walkout and go out in the first round. Have you had any of those thoughts especially in these last couple of tournaments when you made these really big fashion walkouts?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, it's funny, I saw his walkout. I thought it was pretty cool.

But yeah, I mean, I've talked about it before. I do feel a little bit of, like, nerves. Also I kind of want to make myself so used to that feeling that it doesn't bother me anymore.

I think the Australian Open was me throwing myself head first into it with the umbrella and the hat and everything. Yeah, ever since then I've been pretty chill about it. I think we've been a little bit tamer.

Q. I was actually getting served clips of Kill Bill before I was coming to Wimbledon. It has a lot of themes of revenge, betrayal, ultimately forgiveness, in some ways that relate to your journey as a tennis player.

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, it's one of my favorite movies. I never watched it and thought I related to it. I hope I never have to relate to it.

I just love the fact that they throw animation in there. I love the different cuts. In some ways it feels kind of like an anime. But it's obviously shot as a movie with real people.

Yeah, I love that they go to Japan and they explore that whole culture. I feel like I really did, too. Hopefully everything else I don't.

Q. Single-minded nature of a professional athlete without the bloody murder revenge.

NAOMI OSAKA: She's definitely really dedicated to her goal, that's for sure (smiling).

Q. I saw you on court watching Taylor yesterday. Your friendship, you've known her for a long time, right? When did you become closer?

NAOMI OSAKA: So I've known her for a really, really long time. Obviously I don't talk, so we never really talked until there was a moment in Cincinnati, my first Cincinnati back when I lost in qualifying. I remember she gave me this huge hug out of nowhere.

I always kept as close as I could be to someone on tour. It was honestly the trip, which I invited her out of nowhere. She said I was super weird for doing that. But it was a trip. Then we talked for a super long time. We just got really, really close.

For me, like, seeing her journey, it did make me really emotional to see her on Centre Court here because that's like a dream for a lot of tennis players. To see her living that out, unfortunately she was not able to win, but I hope a lot of people were able to see how good of a tennis player she is.

Q. Were you nervous when you invited her?

NAOMI OSAKA: Usually if I text people, I immediately mute them because I can't deal with the stress of seeing their response too soon.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, definitely I would say I really love Sailor Moon. I also really love any magical girl transformation animes. I don't know why, I think every little girl kind of loves that. I love the fashion in there. I don't know, they were able to tell a lot of stories with that.

Obviously Prince of Tennis, I love that, too. I remember trying to practice all the different cool shots that they had in that show.

But I would say definitely anime has inspired a lot of my fashion. I really loved Nana. I think that was really good. I read it more than I watched it.

There's for sure a lot of inspiration that I took. I remember watching Sailor Moon a lot when I was younger.

Yeah, with Tomasz, I've been trying to practice like going forward more. So I have been trying to hit more drive volleys or volleys in general. Just moving forward and following my ball.

It is a little, like, tricky sometimes to hit a drive volley because you do have to put all your body weight forward. I know I'm a little wrong for doing this, but sometimes I try to watch where the person is going instead of committing. I do have a little scare, a couple scares here and there, but overall it seems to be going quite well.

Yeah, I definitely trust myself a lot more with my footwork and with my endurance. Today, like if I assess it, I don't think I hit as fast as I could have because I do trust my footwork. And I did feel like even if she put me on the run, I could hit a deep ball in the middle, kind of restart the point anyway.

In that regard, I am, yeah, pretty confident in my movement speed right now.