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After Miami Open effort, Naomi Osaka says she's 'excited to see how far I can go'

Fans heard directly from the former No. 1 on social media during the final days of the year's opening hard-court swing.

ByBaseline Staff

Published Mar 29, 2024

With three months of her comeback to professional tennis in the books, Naomi Osaka says she's "excited to see how far [she] can go." The former world No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion penned a short note to fans and supports on social media Friday that proclaimed her optimism for the future.

"Honestly really devestated to have lost but extremely grateful and thankful for the support," Osaka wrote in a note titled 'Thoughts leaving Miami.' "It was so fun to play in an atmosphere like this again. I'm excited to see how far I can go and where life takes me."

In six tournaments so this year, Osaka is 7-6, and reached the third round at both Indian Wells and Miami. But she dubbed a 6-2, 7-6(5) Miami win over Elina Svitolina, the No. 15 seed, "definitely the best match I've played so far" echoing thoughts she told reporters at Hard Rock Stadium.

"I definitely do think it was one of my best matches, if not the best match," she said in the press room, "but I also want myself to play better and better every match."

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Osaka now looks ahead to the natural surfaces, clay and grass, on which she has, historically, struggled to play her best tennis. On Thursday, it was announced that she has accepted a wild card to the WTA 250 event in Rouen, France, which begins April 15.

The tournament will mark Osaka's first clay-court action since Roland Garros in 2022, and she'll join 2021 Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 2018 US Open champion Sloane Stephens, former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, and 16-year-old 2023 WTA Newcomer of the Year Mirra Andreeva in the field.

As far as hitting on clay, Osaka wrote: "It's different but fun, let's see what happens."

Having started the season unranked after her 2023 maternity leave, Osaka is projected to be back in the Top 200 when the latest, weekly WTA rankings as released on Monday.