Elliott: Naomi Osaka brings renewed confidence to Indian Wells: ‘I’m at peace with myself.’

All the things felt so acquainted but so unusual when Naomi Osaka made her approach across the grounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Backyard this week earlier than the beginning of the BNP Paribas Open.

The desert surroundings was as picturesque as ever, and the courts the place she gained the 2018 title and launched her ascent towards turning into a four-time Grand Slam singles champion and No. 1 ladies’s participant on the earth have been as pristine as they’ve ever been. The closeness of followers to the apply courts was fortunately the identical, too.

The change she felt was delicate however momentous to Osaka, who final yr acknowledged she had been experiencing bouts of despair and anxiousness. In talking so frankly whereas asserting her withdrawal from the French Open, she made it OKfor athletes to say they’re not OK, tremendously lowering the stigma of discussing psychological well being points. Gymnast Simone Biles continued the dialogue when she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics crew occasion and several other particular person occasions, but it surely was Osaka — whose Japanese and Haitian heritage and American upbringing have made her a cross-cultural phenomenon — who elevated the dialog into the worldwide highlight.

Osaka, whose world rating has dropped to 78 as a result of she took day without work and has performed in solely two tournaments this yr, felt welcomed at Indian Wells with open arms and opened minds as she chatted with individuals who acknowledged she had turn out to be weak and needed, in even a small approach, to assist her really feel secure right here and in every single place.

“Normally after I stroll round there’s individuals which might be like, ‘Win the match,’ or ‘I’ve tickets to the finals, see you there,’ form of factor,” Osaka stated. “Truly, everybody was saying, ‘I hope you might have enjoyable.’ I do know that’s not like the largest distinction, but it surely meant rather a lot to me. It felt extra private.”

These phrases and desires have taken root in her coronary heart. Osaka, who begins play Thursday towards 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens — who’s ranked 38^th on the earth and is following her personal stirring comeback path — is in a greater place than she has been for some time. If that interprets into nice success right here, that’s wonderful. If not, she’s nonetheless solely 24 and is discovering wholesome methods to steadiness life and tennis.

Not like males’s tennis, which has been dominated by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for therefore lengthy, ladies’s tennis has had many modifications on the high and plenty of new Grand Slam singles winners the previous few years. There’s room for Osaka to rise once more.

“I’m good. Actually, I really feel like I’m at peace with myself, which I believe is a very good feeling to have as an individual,” she stated throughout a pre-tournament information convention Wednesday. “I’m actually grateful.”

She wanted a variety of time and reflection to achieve this level. A self-described perfectionist, she stated she not often appears again at previous outcomes. Requested what she has executed to regain her outdated triumphant kind, she stated she’s a distinct individual now and might’t be who she as soon as was.

“There’s at all times that doubt in my head like, ‘Will I ever have the ability to play like this, this, this,’ or no matter. However the gamers that I’m taking part in towards are altering,” she stated. “I really feel like everybody’s enhancing. And I can’t essentially say that I [regressed] as a participant. I believe there are issues that I’ve gotten significantly better at, so I don’t know. I believe life is a continuing evolution.”

Osaka’s struggles final yr undoubtedly have been magnified by her have to hold it secret that she had been chosen for the high-profile process of lighting the cauldron for the pandemic-delayed Olympics in her native Japan. Her loss within the third spherical there hit her arduous. “I assume I simply
thought I might do all the pieces, if that is smart. It wasn’t actually rational however simply to, like, play in my first Olympics and win it in Tokyo, I simply thought that may be one thing I might obtain,” she stated.

“I’m not saying it might have been straightforward, however I simply assume after profitable the Grand Slams and stuff, I assumed it was form of an automated factor so I believe simply shedding there form of jogged my memory that I used to be human. I’m not saying that I didn’t assume I used to be human, but it surely was on arduous courtroom, so I assumed that considerably boosted my possibilities. It was form of wanted.”

She took a break after her third-round U.S. Open loss to Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez and didn’t play once more till a warm-up occasion for the Australian Open in January. She withdrew from the semifinals due to an belly harm; she reached the third spherical of the Australian Open earlier than shedding to Amanda Anisimova in a third-set tiebreaker.

However with that defeat got here a acquire. “I really left the courtroom pondering, ‘You understand what, I did my greatest and I had match factors.’ I felt like that was fairly good,” she stated.

She took a comparatively brief break after that as a result of she was intent on getting ready for this match and the following occasion, in Miami. She says she needs to concentrate on the clay season — clay is her weakest floor — however she’s content material to construct up steadily, at a snug tempo along with her newly comfy mindset.

“This second in my life with taking part in tennis is one thing I’ve educated for, for years and years,” she stated. “However then after I’m 70 or one thing it’s going to in all probability be a small chapter for me. I’ve to get pleasure from it whereas I nonetheless can. Simply having extra appreciation for all of the small … not small, it’s large within the second, for each match that I play at.”