Follow along for The Post\u2019s live coverage of the 2025 US Open<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nThe 2018 and 2020 U.S. Open title winner was the top-ranked player in the world after capturing four major titles altogether \u2014 also including the Aussie Open twice \u2014 through 2021 before missing the entire 2023 season to take care of mental issues and to give birth to her daughter, Shai.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned I loved tennis way more than I thought I did, and I learned that, I actually really love challenges,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a video game. You pick it up, and even if you lose a level, you kind of just restart and keep going until you eventually win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s been a little tough at times, but I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naomi Osaka hits a forehand against Karolina Muchova on Sept. 3, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Osaka has admitted uncertainty about getting back to this level of play, with two first-round ousters, three second-round departures and two third-round advancements \u2014 including at Wimbledon earlier this summer \u2014 in her previous seven appearances at the majors since returning to the tour.<\/p>\n
But Osaka\u2019s confidence rose \u2014 as did her WTA ranking to No. 23 \u2014 with a run to the championship round of the Canadian Open in Montreal last month, and she has carried that over to New York under new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Muchova had bounced Osaka, who was playing as a wild-card entry, in straight sets in the second round here one year ago.<\/p>\n
Muchova dominated her first four service games, losing only two points, but Osaka also held serve throughout the first nine games of the match. After grabbing a 5-4 lead, Osaka capitalized on three unforced errors by her Czech opponent for her first break points of the night and seized the opening set at 15-40.<\/p>\n
Naomi Osaka of Japan returns a volley against Karolina Muchova of Czech Republic. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
After Muchova took a brief medical timeout between sets, Osaka immediately dropped her first service game. But she regrouped quickly and evened matters with her second straight break before grabbing a 2-1 lead with a crisp backhand winner.<\/p>\n
Osaka had the throngs roaring with a rush to the net for a forehand passing shot to go up 3-2, but couldn\u2019t hold that momentum as Muchova closed out for her next two service games to get to 4-4.<\/p>\n
Osaka overcame one break point with a cross-court forehand but then sent a backhand barely wide to open the door for Muchova to try to serve for the second set.<\/p>\n
Naomi Osaka celebrates her U.S. Open win over Karolina Muchova on Sept. 3, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
The two-time Open semifinalist squandered that opportunity, however, as Osaka got back on track with another Muchova unforced error on triple-break point for a 5-5 knot.<\/p>\n
Osaka erased a break point three times in the following game, and the New York crowd clearly appreciated her perseverance as she screamed \u201ccome on\u201d after grabbing a 6-5 lead.<\/p>\n
Muchova then made it to the tiebreaker, but Osaka\u2019s baseline game was too strong as the crowd erupted once more when Muchova\u2019s return sailed long on match point.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely it was a really tough match I think for me. Honestly, I was just trying to hang in there and see if I got an opportunity,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cWhat I am satisfied with today\u2019s match [is] I think my mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there were a lot of moments where she broke me or she was really close to getting a really crucial moment or point, and I just tried to play every point like it was the last point of the match. Thankfully it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If anyone still did not believe Naomi Osaka\u2019s game was all the way back, her gritty performance under…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":200061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[6115,62,1464,67,132,68,20886],"class_list":{"0":"post-200060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-naomi-osaka","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115147148107764685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}