Naomi Osaka admits she would absolutely love to finish the year ranked inside the top-10 but also adds that thinking too much about it would make her stressed out.
For the past couple of months, Osaka has been gradually improving her ranking. In early August, the Japanese finished as runner-up at the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal and became a top-30 player for the first time in a few years after going from world No. 49 to No. 25 in the world. The four-time Grand Slam champion's ranking rise didn't stop there as she gained a further 11 spots on the WTA rankings by making the US Open semifinal and saw herself sitting at No. 14 after the season's final Grand Slam tournament.
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Currently, Osaka is ranked at No. 16 in the world. On Tuesday, the former world No. 1 made a winning start to the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan after mounting a big comeback to beat Leylah Fernandez 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Last year, Osaka skipped Wuhan due to an injury. Because of that, the Japanese isn't defending any points at this year's tournament and it is a great chance for her to collect a good chunk of points.
Osaka: I want to end 2025 in the top-10, but I don't to stress myself out too much
Thats (the rankings) kind of the tough part that I was dealing with today. Of course, I want to end the year in the top 10, but I dont want to stress myself out too much about it. During the US swing, when I had a good run, I wasnt really thinking about rankings, other than, like, getting seated in this land. But Tomasz (coach Wiktorowski). told me that theres a like a little difference between being seeded like 16 or something. So I think thats my goal for the end of the year," the former world No. 1 said.
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Last year, Osaka didn't play any tournaments after Beijing. That means that wherever she goes to play in the rest of 2025, she can only gain points.
Osaka plays against Linda Noskova in the Wuhan second round.
