By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 12, 2021
Naomi Osaka may be brutally efficient on the tennis court, but look closer and you'll see a sensitive shrinking violet who cares about butterflies immensely.
Fans saw both sides of the stunning three-time Grand Slam champion on Friday in Melbourne. She was ruthlessly efficient during her 6-3, 6-2 takedown of Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, in a match that was far closer than the one-sided scoreline indicated, and she was the gentle-as-you-like pacifist just trying to save a butterfly from a cruel fate (she did that successfully, interrupting her perpetual forward progress to escort one to the safety of the sideline during her match).
That’s Naomi Osaka. She’s a tough nut to crack, and it’s even tougher to peg her with black-and-white assumptions about what the modern athlete is or should be.
She’s… just Naomi.
And for the moment all Naomi does is win.
The Japanese star has now won seventeen consecutive matches dating back to her run to the final at last year’s Western and Southern Open and on Friday she put forth the type of dominant display that inspired pundit Lindsay Davenport, in a Tennis Channel conference call last week, to predict that she’d be the dominant player in the women’s game for the next five years “if she continues to play that long".
Given that she’s only 23, Osaka playing on tour for the next five years appears to be a safe bet, but if she continues earning at a clip of $37.4 million per year, she could move on to greener pastures like, say, a butterfly farm.
In other words: enjoy her while you can.
Australian fans did just that on Friday as they processed the news that the tournament would lock out fans for at least the next five days starting on Saturday due to a fresh Covid outbreak, they were around the grounds in numbers, being treated to some top-level tennis from Osaka and Jabeur.
Theme of the match: the Tunisian pressured Osaka early and often, but could not break through.
Osaka needed to save a break point in the first game and finally held after five deuces. Osaka held in an 18-point third game, after saving three break points, for 2-1. And then a 12-point game, saving another break point to hold for 3-2.
Jabeur played brilliantly for much of the match but a string of two consecutive breaks in the first set meant her demise.
The Tunisian, who became the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in Australia last season, maintained a high level in the second set as well, but Osaka spread the distance between the two with an early break in the third game, and the No.3 seed was just too stingy down the stretch to give Jabeur a chance to get back in it.
Despite a 43 percent first-serve percentage Osaka only surrendered just the one break in the opening set and got off the court in a cool 78 minutes.
“For me, I felt like I wasn't playing that well, like my unforced error rate was probably really high today, but I'm really happy with how I fought,” she said.
Osaka’s victory sets a popcorn round of 16 clash with GarbiΓ±e Muguruza. The Spaniard, a runner-up in Melbourne last year, defeated Zarina Diyas, 6-1 6-1. Strangely, Osaka and Muguruza have never played before.
“I've practiced with her once, but it was on grass, and I was younger,” Osaka said. "It was maybe like a couple years ago. But I just remember being really impressed by her, and for me, I've watched her like win Wimbledon and win the French Open when I was younger, and I've always wanted to have the chance to play her. So for me, this is really exciting.”