Match Pointers: How Naomi Osaka dismantled Hailey Baptiste 

Naomi Osaka is a bully. Not the kind that takes your lunch money—her power baseline game can take an opponent’s racquet out of her hands. No slices, drop shots or volleys, just booming serves and ground strokes. Hailey Baptiste tried to stand up to Osaka’s assault on Thursday on Louis Armstrong Stadium, but fell quickly in straight sets in just over an hour.

The sound of the ball off Osaka’s racquet sounds different. Even on a windy day surrounded by the din of the crowd, her shots rise above the noise. Few can match her ball-striking prowess, but she applied some universal strategies in her victory over Baptiste that anyone can employ. Here are a few you can use in your game:

Call Your Shots

Osaka’s game is built on sheer aggression. She gets on top of the baseline and dictates with penetrating and accurate ground strokes. It’s an uncomplicated gameplan and she sticks to it. She only came to net five times—which actually seemed like an inflated number—and that was primarily to crunch a short ball or overhead. A telling stat was Osaka averaged less than 10 yards of movement per point. She wasn’t moving off her spot.

Baptiste certainly tried to push back. She has plenty of firepower of her own, hitting 119 MPH on the radar gun and roping numerous forehands. But attempting to match Osaka shot-for-shot drew too many errors. She mixed in some variety with slices and net approaches, but wasn’t comfortable enough with the change-of-pace tactics to sustain any consistent success.

👉 READ MORE: Hailey Baptiste still on the rise despite US Open defeat

Pressure a Weakness

Osaka loves pouncing on second serves. Anything short or soft in the service box gets tattooed. If she doesn’t win the point outright, she immediately puts her opponent on her heels. Even if she overcooks it and misses the shot, she’s sending a message that she’ll be attacking the serve all match long.

It was a message Baptiste heard loud and clear. Even though she has a solid second serve that averaged 88 MPH, Osaka’s willingness and ability to rough up the return created doubt. In eight service games Baptiste donated nine double faults, including one on match point. It doesn’t have to be the second serve, but once you find a flaw in your opponent’s game, be sure to exploit it.

Play the Day

As polished from the ground as she is, Osaka can incur rough patches.

“Her mechanics have a few more moving parts than some and that is why her results many times are up and down,” says high-performance coach, Mark Kovacs. “When she is on, she is still one of the Top 4 players in the world. With some minor technique refinement she would likely have more consistency with results.”

It was gusty in Armstrong. The ball was dancing around in the wind and not always easy to center on the racquet face. Osaka did well to measure her elaborate strokes and give herself bigger targets. She hit less winners than Baptiste (14 to 13), but committed far fewer unforced errors (25 to 13). Even if your instincts are to hit big and go for the lines, sometimes the conditions demand a more conservative approach.

Slap Your Thigh

When things aren’t going to plan, Osaka can sometimes be her own worst enemy. Her face takes on a dour expression and her game looks just as pained. She becomes impatient and loses fight as she did recently in the third set against Victoria Mboko in the finals of Montreal.

Her mentality against Baptiste was pure positivity. Osaka was bouncing around between points, skipping to the baseline after changeovers and shadow-swinging before the start of games. Maybe it was her latest Labubu (Arthur Flash), but she and was energized throughout the whole match and didn’t allow silly mistakes to derail her.

There’s not a lot you can control on a tennis court, but maintaining a competitive attitude and putting forth maximum effort are non-negotiable.