ROME, Italy—Following a Mutua Madrid Open loss, Naomi Osaka made the bold move to drop down a level, Challengers-style, and enter a WTA 125K in Saint-Malo in the hopes of kickstarting her clay swing.
The move paid off and Osaka not only arrived to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with vital match wins under her belt, but she also captured her first trophy since becoming a mom in 2023.
“I’ve always told people that I’m okay, like, playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways,” Osaka said after a Campo Centrale win over Sara Errani on Wednesday. “The reason I came back wasn’t to play on center courts all the time, it’s because I really enjoy the game. I just want to see what I can do.”
While some stars would bristle at the notion of competing in an event comprised entirely of lower-ranked players, Osaka made the most of a different kind of week on her least favorite surface, trying her first crêpe and drawing inspiration from Andre Agassi’s Open memoir.
