Naomi Osaka has more on her mind than chasing a fifth Grand Slam title at this year’s Australian Open.
Before her opening match in Melbourne, the Los Angeles resident sent someone to her house to retrieve her 1 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth certificate.
She went on to defeat Caroline Garcia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the second round and keep her hopes of a third Australian Open title alive.
“I was watching the fire map, and the fire is like three blocks from my house. So I had someone go and get my daughter’s birth certificate and all that because I didn’t know what would happen if that burned down,” Osaka said in her on-court interview after the match.
“Sending all my love to LA. I know we hear about fires, but for me in particular, I didn’t know how devastating it could be. I just hope everyone’s doing well and I’m sending them all my love.”
Osaka, 27, has not won a Grand Slam event since Melbourne in 2021. She became a mother in July of 2023 and said recently that she won’t “hang around” in professional tennis if her results aren’t on par with her expectations.
She arrived to her post-match press conference on Monday wearing a Lakers jersey and a black Dodgers’ hat with a heart.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve been doing the greatest keeping focus, but obviously I won, so I think it’s an acceptable job,” she said. “It is really difficult for me because I think it’s tougher now because I find my home is more of a home because I have memories with my daughter, and there’s so many things like keepsakes and stuff like that, and obviously you can’t hoard them all when you’re asking someone to go to your house and just grab stuff.
“So it is really tough in that sense, and I’m not there, so I don’t know how bad it is or how bad it’s going to get, but I think the biggest thing that I am grateful for is that everyone in my family is safe.”
After retiring from last week’s finale in Auckland due to an abdominal injury, Osaka called the three-set victory over Garcia “an acceptable job.” She’ll now prepare for a second-round match against Karolina Muchova, who beat Osaka in the second round last year en route to reaching the semifinals.
If she gets past Muchova, Osaka faces potential upcoming matches against Belinda Bencic and Coco Gauff.
She hopes an extended run in Melbourne will allow time for the fires to subside and for a safe return home.
“I don’t think I’ll go back to LA immediately after,” Osaka said. “I don’t feel like it’s safe enough to go back there, so it’s kind of a little bit in a limbo, but also motivating me to hopefully stay here as long as I can.”
–Field Level Media
