After first-round Madrid loss, Naomi Osaka takes wild card to WTA 125 in France

Naomi Osaka was looking for a reset after losing her first-round match at the Mutua Madrid Open, and she may find it next week at a tournament level she hasn't played in almost a decade.

The WTA 125 L'Open 35 de Saint-Malo announced on its social media channels Thursday that Osaka has received a wild card to the event. Two days prior, Osaka lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in Madrid to Bronzetti.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka played a WTA 125 event, which sits between tour level and the lower-level ITF circuit in prestige, only once previously: in 2015, when she was 18 years old and ranked No. 203. She reached the final. But she has been training extensively for the clay-court season in France with coach Patrick Mouratoglou in recent weeks, and the expansive WTA 125 schedule, which this year features 40 events, also represents an opportunity for players ranked No. 11 or lower to pick up extra matches if they lose early at a two-week Grand Slam or WTA 1000 tournament. (Top 10 players are not permitted to enter.)

Main-draw play in Saint-Malo begins on Monday.

Ranked No. 55, Osaka is expected to be the No. 2 seed at the tournament behind American Alycia Parks, ranked No. 53.

While Osaka's terre battue training block didn't bear fruit at the Caja Mágica, she'll hope her decision to drop down a level proves to be. After losing to Bronzetti, whom she beat twice in 2024, on her least-favored surface, a disappointed Osaka candidly posted on social media: "Trust the process, but the process isn't trusting me."

But quickly, she rebounded, and shared more positive sentiments about her continuing comeback from maternity leave and a mental-health hiatus, which began last January. Osaka has recorded a 9-5 win-loss record so far this season, with an abdominal injury disrupting her efforts.

Read more: 'Done with my crashout': Naomi Osaka ready for reset after losing Madrid opener

"I’m done with my crashout,” she wrote on Wednesday. “I refuse to be sad, I rebuke it.”

“I lowkey have short-term memory loss so I don’t stay discouraged for long,” Osaka added in a follow-up post. “We woke up this morning, we’re blessed, we’re healthy and we’re happy.”

After competing in Saint-Malo, Osaka will head to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome for another WTA 1000 event.