Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Naomi Osaka fell to Emma Navarro in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, in the second round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Credit goes to Navarro for an exceptional performance. She won 84 percent of her first-serve points, won 4-of-5 break points, avoided facing a break point herself and earned the victory in 59 minutes. She also won five games in a row at one point.
On the flip side, it was a tough result for Osaka, whose struggles at Wimbledon, and on grass, continued.
Osaka has qualified for Wimbledon four times (2017-2019, 2024) but has not advanced further than the third round.
Osaka is also 14-12 lifetime in professional singles play on grass. On hard courts, she’s 148-72. That’s where all four of her Grand Slam titles have been won, with victories coming at the 2018 and 2020 U.S. Opens and 2019 and 2021 Australian Opens.
In fairness to Osaka, she’s largely been away from the game over the past three years.
Osaka took time off on multiple occasions in 2021 and 2022 to address her mental health. She also gave birth to a baby girl in June 2023 and missed the entire calendar year.
Osaka has played in 2024 but understandably hasn’t been near her peak form, going 16-13 thus far and only reaching the quarterfinals of a tournament once.
Her best effort may have been a near-upset of world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the second round of the French Open, losing 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5. Swiatek ended up winning the tournament.
Navarro, however, was simply the much better player on this day, and Osaka had to cope with another subpar performance on grass.
DieuMerci @Tymlessthought
Naomi Osaka is finding her return to tennis challenging, seven months in, post-maternity. She must find a way to be comfortable playing on Grass and Clay. One of the hallmarks of great champions is winning even when they’re not playing way. Today’s performance was disappointing.
Mark ⚽ 🎾 🏁 @footballmark808
#bbctennis | #Wimbldon
Watching Naomi Osaka, you feel like she ought to be doing better on grass, but she’s only reached as far as the 3rd round at SW19
It looks like she’s only comfortable on hard courts
The grass season is now over for Osaka, though, and she can look ahead later in August and September to the U.S. Open, a tournament where she has historically thrived.
