Grand Slam tournaments, Naomi Osaka top tennis Google searches in 2018

Court Report: Naomi Osaka, WTA fan favorite

The share of online searches for tennis dropped in 2018, as this year's other big sporting events like the World Cup and Winter Olympics dominated public interest, along with the Royal wedding, according to Google figures.

The search engine released its annual recap of the most popular global searches, with Naomi Osaka featuring seventh among the most searched athletes.

While Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's resurgence had propelled an increase in tennis searches in 2017, the game was less globally prominent this season, but still generated national interest in various corners.

Even though it was Serena Williams who drew such attention to the women's final at the US Open, the lesser-known Osaka got more search activity. In addition to her position among the most internationally searched-for athletes, she was the second most searched woman in Japan, and the ninth most search athlete in the United States.

Other players were also prominent in their home countries, according the the selected figures released by Google. Juan Martin del Potro was the most searched athlete in Argentina, along with the third-most searched person and the third most popular search; Kevin Anderson had a similar impact in South Africa.

Simona Halep was fifth among all Romanian searches, and the third most searched person in the country. And she also helped created huge interest in the sport, with tennis events filling the second to the sixth spots among its top sports events. Kiki Bertens was the seventh-most searched Dutch person in the Netherlands.

And while Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic might be far too established to get a lot of searches in their countries, there was plenty of interest in the events they played. The third-most searched sporting event in Switzerland was Wimbledon, followed by the Australian Open, in fifth position. In Spain, the second most searched sporting event was Wimbledon, followed by the US Open, with Roland Garros in eighth position. In Serbia, the sixth most search event was Wimbledon, with the Australian Open in tenth position.

Tennis' most searched event appeared to be Wimbledon, which was eighth among sports events at home in the United Kingdom. It was also among the top 10 searches in countries like Croatia, the Czech Republic and India, among others. Other Slams also got attention worldwide. The French Open was among the top 10 sporting events in the Netherlands. Australia's seventh most searched sports event was the US Open, where John Millman defeated Federer in the fourth round.

But some big wins, like Caroline Wozniacki's first Grand Slam win at the Australian Open and Angelique Kerber's return to the winner's circle at Wimbledon, surprisingly did not appear among the top sports searches in their nations.

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