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WATCH: Osaka plays "Who would you..." game in Madrid

ByAshley Ndebele

Published Apr 30, 2021

Who would Naomi Osaka go dancing with?

This is one of the many questions the reigning US and Australian Open champion had to answer when playing a "Who would you..." game at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday.

Reading from cards, Osaka had to pick from several players including Garbiñe Muguruza, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Petra Kvitova, and Ashleigh Barty.

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“I pick Muguruza because I’ve seen videos of her dancing,” Osaka said. “But at the same time I think she would make me look embarrassing because I can’t dance, so that might backfire.”

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Osaka is playing in her first event since seeing her 23-match win streak snapped by Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open four weeks ago.

"I feel for me it's exciting to go into the clay-court swing because I haven't won a tournament on clay yet,” Osaka told press in Madrid. “Even though that does make me a bit excited, it also gives me a bit of stress because I really want to do well here.”

Having skipped the rescheduled clay-court swing last season following her US Open victory, the No. 2 seed won her opening round over compatriot and 79th-ranked Misaki Doi, 7-5, 6-2.

"At the end of the day, I haven't played a clay tournament in two years. I haven't touched clay in two years either. I'm just going in here just trying to have fun and trying to build match play for the French Open," Osaka said.