MUBADALA DC OPEN

July 26, 2026

Naomi Osaka

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Naomi, welcome back to D.C. How are you feeling ahead of the tournament start here?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I'm feeling pretty good. It's nice to be back on hard. Yeah, I was able to spend time with my family, and my daughter's here, so it's good. It feels very homey.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What was it like playing against Leylah? What do you think of her game? Number two, what are your thoughts on Alex and her potential as a player?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I've played against Leylah a couple of times. The last official match was in China in Wuhan last year, but I've practiced with her a couple of times, too. Obviously she's an amazing player. And it's funny, both of them are lefties.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know much about Alex, but I think she's incredible. I think she's a star, and it's just really cool to have someone like her that, I guess, people can look up to.

For me, I think it's amazing that she's such an inspiration. I really love hearing her talk because it's really cool the things that she says.

Q. I interviewed your physio, Robbie, recently, and he was talking about how you guys want to sort of reframe the term and concept of a comeback. I was wondering if you could just expand on why you don't like that idea?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I feel like saying I don't like it is a little harsh because obviously I feel really grateful for people even thinking about me. But I think when I think of coming back, it kind of, like, washes away the whole process. Also, for me, what am I coming back to, you know?

On my end, I feel like a completely different person. There are things that I'm better at, and maybe there are skills that I've gotten to develop a lot more, but I feel like saying you've come back is a little bit limiting. Maybe that's also my way of, like, taking pressure off in some weird mental way.

Yeah, on my end, I just try to, like, see it as a way to continue achieving more.

Q. On that note, you obviously had a great run at Wimbledon, and I'm curious, what are the things in your game that you feel like have gotten better than they were before?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, definitely. I think on this season in grass I've learned a lot more about my serve. I think I've also gotten a lot more comfortable going to the net. So moving forward and just being a little bit more aggressive, I think that's for me what I did really well in Wimbledon.

Q. On July 7th we just celebrated National Black Women in Sports Day. I wanted to ask you to be here in the nation's capital in Washington D.C., one of the more diverse cities of the tournament and of the tour, what does it mean for you to see the young crowd out here, the diverse crowd that you have seen thus far, being in Washington, and also knowing that your young daughter is here and your family?

NAOMI OSAKA: I think ever since I had my daughter, it means a lot to see young girls and boys looking up to me. I think I take the responsibility really seriously now. Obviously role models are really important, and for me, I had a lot of them growing up. It's because of them that I'm able to be here now.

Yeah, it's really cool to see them having fun, to see them wanting to do the same things that I do. I hope that, you know, the next generation is able to come really quickly and is able to have a lot of fun on tour.

Q. I just wanted to ask about your overlap with Kei. Obviously he's announced he's ending at the end of this season. I'm just wondering what sort of emotions that stirs in you as someone who is around him a lot and was looking up to him before you were on tour level yourself and just what he's meant to you and maybe Japan more broadly, but especially to yourself?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, for me, I don't know. I feel so happy to see him. Obviously as a Japanese player, you grow up admiring him. He's done so many amazing things. He's kind of, like, I don't want to say, carried us on his back for so long, but he has represented Japan at the highest level for an amazingly long period of time.

I remember just watching him and hoping to be where he is and being able to stand next to him and do all of the cool things that he's doing. I was able to get to that point.

Like I remember the first time I met him. I was shocked that he knew who I was. So he's always felt like an older brother. Yeah, it's something that I've missed for a while because I've been gone for periods, he was gone for periods. So to be at this tournament together is really special.

Q. In Paris you hosted your first Black Party. It generated a really strong and powerful response. I'm just wondering if you plan on hosting another one, maybe for US Open or anytime soon?

NAOMI OSAKA: I mean, I definitely do, but it's something that I feel is really important to me, but I also want to make sure, like, people are able to come. So I think scheduling is really important.

In Paris it was kind of very last-minute. Yeah, I feel like I do want to do it again, but I just want to make sure it's done correctly.

Q. So you posted something recently about being an introvert and about how introverts should try and find their voice. I'm curious for you, whether it's on or off the court, what have you done that has helped you find your own personal voice?

NAOMI OSAKA: I would say, ironically, wearing the outfits that I wear have kind of forced me to speak a lot more, especially about topics that I'm not necessarily an expert on.

Being a tennis player, I could probably sit in front of this mic and talk about tennis for a really long time because it's a world that I'm used to. Kind of branching out, doing the fashion stuff has made me talk to people that I've never met before and things like that.

So, yeah, just trying to, I would say, go into worlds that I've never imagined myself sort of being in before.

Q. I was trying to think about what you might consider your breakthrough win to be, if it was before the US Open, like back in 2018, if it was Indian Wells. Just how much life changes after you get one of those big wins and you have all these more eyes on you. I don't know if you consider Indian Wells, if that was a big demarcation line in your career or life, but can you talk a little bit about how just suddenly things change and explain a little bit of that, please?

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, definitely. It's funny because when I won Indian Wells, I for sure thought, like, wow, life can't get any crazier than this, because my mom was working all the time, and I rarely saw her, and she was able to retire because of that. I don't know. I felt like that was peak.

Then the US Open happened and all of that stuff that came after it. So I feel like there are moments. It keeps going, and even now, like, before this year, like all the fashion stuff, I thought, this is probably the level, you know?

I actually don't really want to be famous, so I'm good with where I'm at right now. And then it's like people are knowing me now for the fashion stuff more than the tennis, like fashion enthusiasts more than tennis fans. I don't want to say that because I'm playing good this year, so it's like...

I feel like every moment has blips, and it's kind of just like always steadily going up. Whenever I think it's levelled out, it's something else keeps happening.

In terms of life-changing, I don't know. It's weird. I've never considered myself famous, so I've always done everything that I've done before now.

Q. I'm just curious about any conversation you've had with your daughter about being a tennis professional. Has she asked you about, you know, what it is you do? Have you encouraged her in any way to be a tennis pro? Is there any kind of conversation like that?

NAOMI OSAKA: Well, she knows I play tennis. I don't tell her it's, like, a professional job or anything, but she knows that's what I do for work.

She has, like, a mini Yonex tennis racquet that she swings around, but she's actually never gone on the court and played. I don't think I'd encourage it other than for her to get exercise because I feel like there's so many things that she's good at and so many things that she wants to explore.

So, yeah, I'll see what happens in the future.

Q. Just a quick follow-up about talking about fashion because we have a lot of famous Filipino designers. I'm just wondering whether you know anybody or is there anyone you want to collab with in terms of, yeah, your fashion?

NAOMI OSAKA: For me I'm kind of, like -- I like a lot of, like, small indie designers. I like, you know, finding people that are not necessarily, like, super famous.

But in terms of, like, collabing and stuff, I have a plan of what I'm going to do for the US Open, so that's something that I'm really excited about and I want to execute properly. Obviously we're here right now. I don't know. I'm just excited about playing my matches here, and we'll get to New York eventually.

(Naomi's answers to questions in Japanese.)

NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't consider my relation -- I could never -- I don't know. Like, I feel like I respect Kei too much to say he's my friend. He's someone I've looked up to for so long. For me it's amazing enough that he's, like, talking to me regularly, and I don't want to be, like, a fan, like fanned out or whatever.

So I'd say for me he's kind of more an older senpai kind of or like a brother.

I mean, I think the biggest thing that always stood out when I watched Kei when I was younger and even now is, like, he kind of is the same all the time. Like, he looked like a samurai kind of, like even the backhand stance and stuff like that. I always really liked that.

Yeah, so for me from my end, what I studied from him is the backhand and the return. Obviously I need to study more. But yeah, those are the things that I admired the most. Then obviously that he never got angry or things like that.

Yeah, I mean, I would say that getting to the quarterfinals in Wimbledon did give me confidence, but like, I was kind of sad that I wasn't able to go further, because I felt that I had the opportunity to do that.

For a long time, maybe for like a couple of days or so, I was just really disappointed in myself. Maybe that's just my mindset, because I feel like I'm so hard on myself. Obviously if someone gets that far in Wimbledon, it's something to be happy about, but for me, I just -- I don't know, I really felt like it was kind of my time to do something. So I was just wrestling with that for a while.

You know, life moves on, so now I'm here. It's the surface that I have the best results on, so I can only hope to be really optimistic and just hope that I play really well.