Naomi Osaka Explains how She Beat Aryna Sabalenka

[0:00] hi everybody a reminder to raise your hand if you'd like to ask a question [0:04] naomi i'll start and you want to just give some thoughts on the match today um yeah i mean it was [0:10] a really difficult match but i've you know i've played her a couple times this year so i just [0:16] tried to focus on the things that i'm good at and um yeah the positives that i could keep um [0:24] i guess thinking about moving forward in the match thank you hi naomi congratulations you [0:32] mentioned that you played her in a few times this year and obviously some tight losses how did you [0:36] flip it today tactically and mentally to get the win um i mean tactically there's only so much you [0:45] could do against her i think you know obviously we're big ball strikers and i think from my end [0:51] like it's not like i'm gonna start running around the court trying to draw an error from her i can [0:55] only focus on my strengths so i just tried to serve really well because it's grass and i also tried to [1:01] get the upper hand in the rallies first um and that just happened to work really well today you [1:08] mentioned that you overpowered her did you feel that on court as well um yeah a little like i tried [1:16] my best you know because i remember in on the clay courts um i felt like she was push pushing me back [1:23] a lot so i just tried to do it to her first ben congratulations you started this match super [1:30] strong you know breaking here pretty early and backhand especially i think was cooking early so [1:35] how good did it feel early and how were you just trying to keep that momentum and not have any sort [1:39] of dips you know through the whole match um honestly i had why do i say honest i had a talk with tomas [1:47] um before the match and he like was very clear to tell me not to focus on the score [1:54] so i actually i wasn't very conscious of the score line during the entire match i was just trying to [2:00] play point by point because the last time i i played her um not counting french open but in madrid [2:08] like when i won the first set i was like very um conscious of trying to close it out so um this time [2:14] i i just tried to play it game by game actually yes like i i thought about it as a practice match [2:22] um and i was just telling myself like there's a really big crowd for this practice match but we're [2:29] gonna get through it i mean fashion question here um you said the other day that the longer i'm in the [2:37] tournament the more stories i like to tell with my outfits and that you like to mix and match does that [2:43] mean you'll be switching it up or adding anything as you progress um i definitely wanted to today but i [2:50] actually really wanted to focus on the match so that was me being very tame um but definitely [2:57] there's um a couple things i can add but um obviously i really well ironically i kind of want [3:05] to focus on my tennis now so i might dial back a little bit a little naomi a lot of previous years [3:13] maybe when you've you've come here you haven't seemed super kind of comfortable at wimbledon and [3:18] and then if this year you you do you seem very at ease i just wonder how how does it feel different [3:23] and what do you feel like your sort of relationship with wimbledon is like now yeah definitely i would [3:29] say my relationship with grass and wimbledon hasn't been the best um when i was younger and i'm not [3:36] really sure why i feel so comfortable on grass now this year i think i've done a lot of drills with tomas [3:44] um and most of them weren't necessarily even on grass court it was more like pattern recognition and [3:50] things like that and getting me comfortable with my own game so um honestly i think it's uh like um [3:59] like throughout the entire year year he's been getting me more comfortable with my movement and what [4:05] um my plans are playing opponents match uh well done naomi um now that you're having success here does [4:13] it how does it feel differently having success at wimbledon compared with having success at some of [4:20] the other grand slams where you've done where you've done well i mean winning on that court and court number [4:26] one court and with the experience of it is it different or and how so um yeah i mean i'm definitely [4:34] really grateful um i think someone asked me the other day how the crowd is different here than anywhere [4:41] else and i really had to think about it because i don't actually have that much experience but um [4:48] no i mean the crowd is lovely the atmosphere is amazing to play on that court um i've watched so [4:55] many great matches being played and um to be the one playing is really cool and i had this like one-sided [5:04] beef with eubanks because he got to the quarters like way before me and i was so upset for the longest [5:11] time so i'm glad to finally join him that's money congratulations you've talked a lot about your [5:19] mentality like at this moment you know not not viewing tennis as the most important it's not the [5:24] most important thing in the world and viewing it as a job i'm curious like i imagine it's tied to your [5:28] daughter but um at what point did you kind of did that mentality come to you i guess at what point did [5:34] you start to view it in that way and was that like a conversation you had with yourself or did people [5:38] around you help you to see it in that way um i would say the people around me like even years ago [5:45] tried to help me a lot um and i i think it came after rome um i lost to ego really badly and i felt [5:57] like i just shut everyone out and i literally just got on a plane back home um and it wasn't the most [6:05] professional thing to do like i didn't talk to my team and i felt really ashamed about like what i [6:11] did um so then after that i just told myself like hey i'm nearing 30 um i really gotta like enjoy the [6:20] time that i have and also like obviously tennis is very very important to me um but i have a life [6:27] outside of that and i have to you know treasure tennis in the way that i can um which is like not [6:35] putting too much um importance on it ollie naomi great win today um in reaching the quarterfinals [6:46] for the first time here you joined the last eight club which gives you certain perks do you know [6:51] about the last eight club um and yeah what does it mean that you'll be able to come back here for [6:56] the rest of your life basically with tickets and lots of different perks oh wait wait because okay [7:06] so i thought you just get like that little pin um can i practice here whenever i want is that like [7:13] one of the perks who who gets to do that members you get grounds passes so you have to win to be a [7:18] member yeah okay you gotta lock in okay tickets every year like for free yeah oh hey okay that's cool [7:29] um yeah i guess i'll like read i'll google what the perks are charlie because of your previous record [7:40] here you've maybe been able to go under the radar a little bit obviously expectations will now externally [7:45] anyway ramp up after such a good performance does that kind of thing make a difference to you or are you [7:50] able to kind of shut out that outside noise um i think i'm actually quite good at shutting out outside [7:59] noise um obviously like everyone around me knows how well i can play um and for me that's the most [8:08] important thing is just me building confidence in myself and whatever happens um is outside you know [8:16] is kind of like outside noise and i don't need to pay attention to it i just need to focus on the things [8:21] that i can do just following up on what you said about dialing back on the outfits and focusing on [8:31] your tennis but why is that i just feel like it i don't know um because i mean like i don't have that [8:44] much variation this time around like i hate to say it but um the french open the designer was based in [8:54] france so he was kind of like sewing things immediately after i won but obviously with the kimono we had to [9:00] get it from japan so it's not like she can make a brand new thing every time and i have different [9:07] ways to mix and match it but my favorite one is the one that i've worn like two times in a row now it's [9:13] just like the free like the free robe vibe and like if you watch anime there's this anime called bleach [9:21] it's one of my favorites and i don't want to bore you but anyways so i feel like i'm channeling like a [9:29] character from that whenever i wear the kimono in that way last from serbian radio congrats on the [9:38] amazing victory i have a question about your jersey lakers you are one of fans do you have any comment [9:45] on lebron james leaving lakers and where would you like him to see him maybe miami he that was a second [9:52] team that you like um i mean i wear the jersey for kobe but for lebron i know it's like big news and i [10:02] know that um teams have traded other players like yannis so it's kind of all speculation and i don't [10:10] watch basketball enough but i heard that he might play with steph curry which is really cool [10:16] um which would also be very overpowered but it'd be fun to see as a casual fan thank you we'll move on [10:24] to questions in japanese [10:25] yeah um it's definitely amazing company to be in and for me i admire and look up to them so much and it's [10:56] um it's it's a privilege to be mentioned in the same sentence um and also like i think it's an [11:04] incredible wave that we're having with um i call him shinny but i know i'm not supposed to do that [11:10] with mochi um and i know he's playing right now but you know for me i have so much fun and i enjoy [11:18] it so much because um like it reminds me of when i used to play and k was there and we'd share the same [11:24] court so it's it's a very similar feeling