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'It's all about to click': An optimistic Naomi Osaka signs off from Madrid

The former world No. 1 scored her first clay-court win since 2022 before bowing out from the Caja Mágica.

ByBaseline Staff

Published Apr 27, 2024

Something big is coming—Naomi Osaka can feel it, if the optimistic note that the former world No. 1 penned on social media following her second-round exit from the Mutua Madrid Open is to be believed.

"I think I’m on to something. It’s all about to click, I feel it in the air," Osaka wrote on social media Friday, along with a photo of herself playing at the tournament.

Osaka has reason to be feeling positive after the second event of her comeback to clay courts: On her least-favored surface, the former world No. 1 scored her first clay-court win since 2022 over Belgian Greet Minnen in the opening round before bowing out from the Caja Mágica in three tough sets to No. 15 seed Liudmila Samsonova. She's already played two events on clay this spring, and is also entered in the upcoming WTA 1000 in Rome.

After the win against Minnen, Osaka told reporters that she was eager to embrace clay courts more than she had in previous years.

"There's definitely beauty to it, and I'm taking a lot of inspiration from people who do well on it," she said. "I'm not expecting to be like Iga [Swiatek], but I just want to do the best with what I have."

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In her post, Osaka also waxed poetically of her recent appearance on "Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios," where she mused about the lessons of her past, reality of her present and hopes for the future, and about her hopes of leaving a lasting legacy.

"How bold of me to assume I'll live long enough to fade away," Osaka wrote. "After all, nothing in life is promised. Every day and every breath is a blessing, it should be viewed as such.

"How bold of me to assume tomorrow is promised, to final joy and happiness in all moments of life is true wealth."

But the four-time Grand Slam champion will now have little time for any further reflections, as the Internazionali BNL d'Italia begins in 10 days. It will be Osaka's fifth career appearance at the Foro Italico, but just her second since reaching the quarterfinals in 2019.