Naomi Osaka "needs to fix things" ahead of US Open

Naomi Osaka hasn’t played much tennis this summer, so the rust on her typically clean and crisp game is more than understandable. But with the US Open just around the corner, she knows she’ll need to improve her game if she wants to defend her 2020 title. Osaka lost to Jil Teichman in the Western & Southern Open third round, but kept a positive attitude despite her less-than-stellar performance.

“I would say for me, even though she played really well, I know that there is a lot of things I need to fix within my game, so in a weird way I’m kind of glad that I lost, because there are so many things that I want to fix before New York."

“Honestly, (Teichmann’s level) didn’t really surprise me as much," Osaka added. “I remember watching her play against Coco in Australia. I was thinking, like, this girl is really talented. It really doesn’t surprise me at all. And also, people play me at a really high level, so I’m always kind of ready for that.”