Naomi Osaka is choosing peace on clay and the results are paying off in Rome

ROME, Italy—The clay swing was once a stressful time for Naomi Osaka, enough to cause a mental health crisis on the eve of 2021 Roland Garros.

That stress has seemingly melted away for the new mom, who put on a serene performance to weather a drama-filled day at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and defeat Marta Kostyuk, 6-3, 6-2.

“I don't know why, but today I just woke up very peaceful,” Osaka confessed in her post-match press conference on Thursday. That peace has translated into a more relaxed Naomi, both on the court—where she is yet to drop a set—and off, where she happily waded into the rap feud between Drake and Kendick Lamar.

“I just feel like, I don't know, no matter what happens on the court, nothing will change for me off the court. Like, my daughter will still love me. I have so many people around me, so...

“Yeah, I think maybe that showed today. I hope that mentality stays and continues.”

The victory was not only her third over a Top 20 player since giving birth to daughter Shai last year, but it also marked the first time since 2019 Roland Garros that the four-time Grand Slam champion won back-to-back matches on clay.

Where she once worried the surface would blunt her strengths and expose her weaknesses, the self-described “baby giraffe” is now a committed student to clay and all the ways it changes the contours of a tennis match.

“I'm just really excited to learn more about clay court and develop and go to Paris. Shai is coming to Paris, so that's something that's keeping me very, I don't know, happy.”

Osaka, who has been seen reading affirmations from a notebook during changeovers, brought that positive mindset from a mid-clay swing training bloc in Mallorca. Shaking off a disappointing second-round defeat against Liudmila Samsonova, whom she’d beaten earlier this season at the BNP Paribas Open, the former world No. 1 watched the end of the Mutua Madrid Open play out on television.

“I watched Rafa. I watched Alcaraz. I watched Rublev actually which is very inspiring because he's smacking the ball,” Osaka said, smiling ear to ear.

“I kind of thought to myself, like, I don't want to have regrets when I leave the court. In Madrid I did kind of have regrets of not swinging fully. Focusing on that a lot, yeah.”

Osaka has, at times, moderated an internal debate on whether to modulate her aggression on a surface that can reward patience, citing big-hitting Jelena Ostapenko’s 2017 victory in Paris as proof that perhaps her hard-court game need not change too much on the terre battue.

I kind of thought to myself, like, I don't want to have regrets when I leave the court. In Madrid I did kind of have regrets of not swinging fully. Naomi Osaka

“I think for me, I just want to put more spin on it while rotating it a lot more,” Osaka said after her first-round victory on Wednesday. “I think when I'm finally able to achieve that, it will obviously be quite heavy, so I thought that will be my clay court tennis.”

Her next opponent, No. 10 seed Daria Kasatkina, will bring a decidedly more traditional approach to clay-court tennis in the third round; the 2014 girl’s Roland Garros champ and 2022 women’s semifinalist employs a wide array of spins and slice that can still flummox Osaka in spite of her calmer mindset.

“She smacked me in Madrid real bad. It was actually embarrassing. I felt like I had to apologize to her after that practice,” Osaka recalled ahead of their third-round clash.

“But I'm going into this match knowing that she has way more experience than me on clay. I feel like I'm still a baby giraffe, like I'm trying to learn my steps. I'm just extremely humble. I want to learn from the match I played today and hopefully apply that.”

Though some stress still lingers, Osaka unequivocally possesses the firepower to hit through even the slowest of surfaces. Should she continue to choose peace, chances are high that happens at the Foro Italico.