Osaka Found Motivation in Wuhan: "I Want to Finish the Year in the Top 10"

© AFP

Adrien Guyot

le 08/10/2025 à 07h36

2 min to read

Osaka Wuhan

Currently in Wuhan, Naomi Osaka has a goal in mind for the end of this season.

Back in the spotlight after her pregnancy, Naomi Osaka has once again become a formidable player in major tournaments. A semi-finalist at the US Open and a finalist at the WTA 1000 in Montreal this summer, the Japanese player is now ranked 16th in the world, one of the best rankings she has achieved since her return from pregnancy (she even reached 14th).

Osaka, who ended her collaboration with Patrick Mouratoglou to work with Tomasz Wiktorowski, the former coach of Swiatek, now has big ambitions for the end of the season.

"The pressure of moving up in the rankings has been the most difficult thing for me. Of course, I want to finish the year in the top 10, but I also don’t want it to become an obsession and stress me out every day.

During the American tour, when I had a good winning streak, I didn’t think too much about the rankings, but rather about continuing to fight to give myself more chances to climb even higher.

Tomasz (Wiktorowski, her coach) told me that there’s a small difference between being the 16th seed and being in the top 10 in a major tournament, so that will be my goal for the end of the year.

Mentally, it was tough for me (against Leylah Fernandez in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan). This is a challenging part of the season. I believe I’m very happy with how I handled that match, and it will be easier to move forward in the upcoming matches.

I feel like I’ll have to push myself a bit more with my shots," concluded Osaka, who will face Linda Noskova in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 in Wuhan this Wednesday, for the media Punto de Break.