That Iga Match Did Wonders For My Confidence’: Osaka ‘Looking Forward’ To Clay In 2025

Naomi Osaka almost beat Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros this year, and she’s looking forward to clay next year because her confidence in her clay prowess increased as a result.

The Japanese player spent the majority of her career not actively participating in tournaments on the red dirt. She wasn’t interested in the surface because she was busy beating everybody on the hard courts.

Osaka had a similar attitude to grass, and having Roland Garros and Wimbledon as two of the four major tournament didn’t change anything in her approach. She didn’t enjoy playing on those surfaces, but things have changed recently.

The former World No. 1 player returned to tennis with a new outlook, partly inspired by her motherhood. She wanted to prove herself as a player and make her daughter proud. Part of her plan was to become good on grass and clay.

Towards that goal, Osaka played a lot of matches on both surfaces this year, and she did well at times. She almost made the final in Den Bosch on grass, and she certainly played well on clay at times as well.

The most impressive performance on clay this year came at Roland Garros. She faced Iga Swiatek and pushed her hard in a match where she even had match points.

Getting herself to that point in a match on clay against Swiatek is impressive in itself, and unfortunately for Osaka, she couldn’t go further. She had match points, but she wouldn’t convert them, so she lost the match.