Naomi Osaka says she was so disappointed after Wimbledon to the point where her expectations simply disappeared and finds it ironic that she is now enjoying her best run of the year.
In early July, Osaka made a promising start to her run at The Championships and easily made it past her opening two matches. In the Wimbledon third round, the former world No. 1 was a set away from reaching her first Grand Slam second week since the 2021 Australian Open but then allowed Anastasija Pavlyuchenkova to come back from a set down and beat her. The four-time Grand Slam champion looked absolutely crushed in her presser and even said it was hard for her to find any positives.
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A month later, Osaka is through to the semifinal of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal, where she is due to meet Clara Tauson. This is the Japanese's first WTA 1000 semifinal since she finished as runner-up at the 2022 Miami Open.
Osaka: I was really disappointed after Wimbledon... I kind of let go of my expectations
"I'm really happy. I'm also really excited. I don't know. It's kind of interesting, because I told people this before, but like, obviously after Wimbledon, I was really disappointed. Then I just kind of let go of my expectations, and now we're here. So I find it kind of ironic, but I'm happy about it," the world No. 49 admitted.
By reaching the Montreal semifinals, Osaka will rise at least 20 spots on the updated WTA rankings list on Monday and be ranked at No. 29. That means she will be a top-30 player for the first time in years.
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"I feel a lot more at peace with myself and what I want to do in this part of the season," the four-time Grand Slam winner noted.
It remains to be seen if Osaka can continue her fine form and beat Tauson to reach the Montral title match.
