Best Moments of 2018: No. 4, Osaka's "Worst" Speech

Looking back on the 2018 season, Baseline is revisiting the Top 10 moments that made us laugh, cry and rejoice during the action-packed year. Here's No. 4:

4

When Naomi Osaka finished plowing through the draw in Indian Wells this March, she'd never given a tournament-victory speech before—she'd never won a tournament before.

This meant that, in front of one of the biggest crowds in tennis, she'd have to do it all for the first time, figuring it out as she went along:

"Hi, I'm Nao–OK, never mind," she began, cutting herself off when she realized the 16,000-seat stadium that had just watched her play for an hour already knew her name.

Take 2: "I would like to thank the tournament director, and then the WTA and the staff and the physios—oh, whoops, sorry, I would like to thank Dasha," she said gesturing to her giggling opponent, normally the first person the winner would address.

Take 3: "I would like to thank Dasha for being super nice and also being a really cool person to play against. I'm pretty sure we're gonna play a lot of finals and stuff later.

But, once she got going, Osaka hit all the right notes, and won over a bunch of fans.

"This is probably gonna be, like, the worst acceptance speech of all time," she said, incorrectly.

After falling short of her newly heightened expectations in the middle of the season, Osaka found her groove again just in time for the US Open, where she dropped only one set en route to the title.

The next time Osaka has to give a winner's speech, she'll have plenty of experience to fall back on.