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Naomi Osaka, WTA ranking No. 53, is shifting her mindset after a difficult Wimbledon loss, sharing a personal Instagram post that offered rare insight into her emotional state and long-term outlook on her tennis career.
The four-time Grand Slam champion posted a reflective note titled “Expectations” on Monday, just days after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round at Wimbledon. Osaka had won the opening set 6-3 before dropping the next two 6-4, 6-4. She double-faulted six times and converted just four of 10 break-point opportunities.
In her post, Osaka detailed a recent conversation with her father that left a lasting impact.
“He told me he finds this interesting because he thinks my tennis career is potentially similar,” Osaka wrote, reflecting on her father’s acknowledgment that he feels closer to the end of life than the beginning. “I’ve lived almost my entire life playing this sport and I guess it’s true, I am closer to the end than the beginning.”
Osaka, 27, who turned professional at shortly before the age of 16, has struggled recently with grass court play and the emotional weight of expectations. She has a 5-4 career record on grass and has acknowledged in past interviews that fear stemming from an old knee injury affects her performance on the surface.
Despite her disappointment at Wimbledon, Osaka used her post to make a public commitment to find peace with herself.
“When I was younger my dream was to hold the US Open trophy, winning it seemed like a fairy tale so I just wanted the chance to hold it and look inside because my mom had told me a story about there being fairy dust at the bottom of the trophy. Miraculously, I have 2 of those trophies now,” she wrote. “That means I doubled my wildest dreams and yet somehow I let my expectations of myself and the expectations of others prevent me from enjoying the rest of my journey no matter how long or short it may be. Writing this to make a promise with myself to enjoy the times and be at peace traveling and seeing my daughter reap the fruits of my labor.”
Osaka, who won the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020, and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, returned to the WTA tour in 2024 following maternity leave. Wimbledon remains the only major where she hasn’t advanced past the third round.
