9:40 AM ET
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D’Arcy Maine ESPN.com
Naomi Osaka stopped briefly for a minute when inquired about her best document in significant finals. She had actually simply beat Serena Williams in the Australian Open semifinals and protected her area in her 4th profession champion suit.
She preserved a soft-spoken tone, yet her message was anything yet peaceful.
“I have this mentality that people don’t remember the runners-up,” she stated. “You might, but the winner’s name is the one that’s engraved.
” I assume I deal with the hardest in the finals. I assume that’s where you type of established on your own apart.”
Osaka did just that Saturday.
Playing American Jennifer Brady in front of a limited but lively crowd at Rod Laver Arena, the 23-year-old rolled to a 6-4, 6-3 victory in 77 minutes and by night’s end was hoisting her fourth Slam trophy. She and Monica Seles are the only women to win their first four major final appearances in the Open era, and she now trails just Serena and Venus Williams with major victories among active players, tied with recently returned Kim Clijsters.
“This win strengthens her as the most effective gamer worldwide,” said Rennae Stubbs, the four-time doubles major champion and ESPN analyst. “That’s what it does. I assume that there is no concern that, absolutely on a tough court, she is as leading as a gamer has mored than the last 3 years.
“For a while there were these questions about her not liking the spotlight and if that would prevent her from becoming a dominant player, but we can all just push that aside now because that’s clearly not the case. We know that she loves it. We know that she can handle the pressure. We know that she likes being the face of women’s tennis, and she now is the face of women’s tennis.”
Although Osaka will not climb toNo 1 in the positions, because of the pandemic-adjusted factors system, and will certainly rather need to chooseNo 2, the number before her name is a plain procedure. On Saturday, she left no question where she stands in the present landscape of females’s tennis.
Osaka was the frustrating favored going into the suit, yet she recognized surpassing newbie finalist Brady would not be simple. The 2 had actually fought in the semifinals of the United States Open in September in a remarkable three-set suit in which Osaka stated she had “never had to physically and mentally fight so hard” on the court.
Saturday was a lot more simple.
Brady held break factor at 4-all in the initial collection prior to Osaka struck a crucial forehand victor to the sideline. She took the following 2 factors and never ever failed once more. She won 6 straight video games and stayed strongly in control. Osaka had 6 aces and 16 champions and was imperturbable in one of the most turning points.
“She played really well when she had to,” Brady stated after the suit. “She hit good shots when she needed them. In those moments, that’s the toughest time to find those shots. You know, to put you on defense when it’s the big moments.
“And simply to offer out the suit like that, you understand, she did that likewise in New York versus me. She certainly has self-confidence in her offer and offering out suits and playing risky tennis when it matters. So, yeah, it is difficult to encounter.”
After Brady’s forehand went long to seal the match, Osaka put her hands above her head and briefly leaned back and smiled, her face awash with joy but no hint of surprise. She confidently and comfortably twirled and waved to the crowd after exchanging a hug with Brady at the net and knew exactly how to act as a champion. She gave a gracious victory speech, hitting all the right marks without a hint of awkwardness, except for asking Brady if she wanted to be called “Jennifer” or “Jenny” and then doing the opposite of what she requested.
It was a far different scene from the ones after her first two Slam titles, at the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, where few had expected her to be triumphant against more experienced opponents.
“The very first time that I have actually won both these prizes, I assume in such a way, I was simply a youngster,” she said in her postmatch news conference. ” I really did not truly understand what I was doing. I was winning my suits, yet I had not been truly valuing the minute, the event, exactly how difficult it is to also reach the setting that I’m in today.”
After catapulting to the No. 1 ranking after those back-to-back major victories, Osaka struggled under the weight of expectations. She split with coach Sascha Bajin and lost in the third round of the French Open. Weeks later, she was handed a shocking first-round exit at Wimbledon. She left her postmatch news conference in tears with many in the sport wondering whether it was simply too much success and pressure too soon.
She didn’t quell the doubts with her fourth-round loss in New York in 2019 or a shocking third-round farewell at the hands of 15-year-old Coco Gauff in Melbourne in 2020. But after the suspension of the season in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, Osaka reassessed her attitude and her priorities. She began speaking out on the issues that mattered to her, including systemic racism and police brutality, and traveled to Minneapolis to protest the death of George Floyd.
When the season restarted in August, it didn’t take long for Osaka to rediscover her confidence on the court while continuing to use her voice off it. She won her first three matches at the Western & Southern Open, the lead-in tournament for the US Open, and then announced she would be boycotting her semifinal match in the hope of creating conversation in the tennis world around the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The tournament paused play for the day in support.
Before the US Open got underway a few days later, Osaka set aside seven masks, each bearing the name of a person killed as the result of racial injustice or police brutality, to wear before and after matches. She was able to wear each one during her run to the final, and she credited having a message as motivation. She won the tournament.
She has become a prominent advocate, writing op-eds and appearing in magazines, while lining up one major endorsement after another.
And she’s been unbeatable on the tennis court, not losing since the season restarted. Saturday’s final marked her 21st straight victory.
It’s the longest win streak on the WTA Tour since Serena Williams reached 27 consecutive victories spanning across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Williams has long been the leading figure in women’s tennis — dominating the court, the headlines and the sponsorship dollars — and has spent the past three years since returning from childbirth trying to reclaim her throne. But it’s been Osaka who has quietly emerged from Williams’ long shadow to claim the top spot. Forbes listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2020.
Osaka’s 6-3, 6-4 victory over Williams in the semis was perhaps the final statement on the matter.
After two shaky opening games, Osaka regained her composure and won the next five — all but dismantling the 23-time major champion with a page out of her own playbook, using big serves and powerful groundstrokes. As Williams emotionally left the court, sparking questions about her future, it seemed the torch of being the game’s dominant presence had officially been passed.
There have been 11 different major champions since Serena Williams won her most recent Slam title at the Australian Open in 2017 — with Osaka and Simona Halep (2) the only ones to earn multiple trophies in that span. There has been incessant talk about the depth in the women’s game and questions about the ability of the top players to produce consistent results. But Osaka seemed to further differentiate herself Saturday.
Osaka had a tournament-leading 50 aces throughout the fortnight — 15 more than second-place Serena Williams and 16 more than Brady. She recorded one of the fastest serves at 122 mph, and had a 79% first-serve win percentage for second best at the event.
Osaka has never advanced past the third round at the French Open or Wimbledon, and she has admitted she is not as confident on clay or grass, but she seems more than up for the challenge as she hopes to continue her dominance.
“The amusing point is, I do not check out assumptions as a problem any longer,” she said Saturday. ” I seem like I’m at the factor currently where it’s something that I’ve benefited. Like, individuals would not anticipate points from me if I had not done points prior, if that makes good sense. I seem like no one anticipated points of me when I was more youthful, and since I have sort of went up the rankings, naturally there’s mosting likely to be a lot more stress, yet I seem like likewise that’s inspiration, since I likewise wish to do far better for myself also.”
With a fatal offer and a cold-as-ice behavior under stress– similar to Williams in her prime– Osaka is currently the one her peers have no solutions for.