Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts as she plays Spain’s Paula Badosa during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Spain’s Paula Badosa celebrates beating Japan’s Naomi Osaka after their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Japan’s Naomi Osaka leaves after loosing to Spain’s Paula Badosa during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts as she plays Spain’s Paula Badosa during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Naomi Osaka tears up after first-round French Open loss to Paula Badosa
PARIS (AP) 鈥 Naomi Osaka still wore the pink accessories in her hair inspired by 鈥渟akura鈥 鈥 cherry blossoms 鈥 and there were streaks on her cheeks where tears had rolled, when she sat down for a French Open news conference after her first-round loss to Paula Badosa on Monday.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts as she plays Spain’s Paula Badosa during their first round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Monday, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
PARIS (AP) 鈥 Naomi Osaka still wore the pink accessories in her hair inspired by 鈥渟akura鈥 鈥 cherry blossoms 鈥 and there were streaks on her cheeks where tears had rolled, when she sat down for a French Open news conference after her first-round loss to Paula Badosa on Monday.
Osaka’s red eyes welled as she answered a few questions before needing a break and briefly leaving the interview room following the 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 exit against the 10th-seeded Badosa.
鈥淎s time goes on, I feel like I should be doing better. But also 鈥 I kind of talked about this before, maybe a couple years ago, or maybe recently, I鈥檓 not sure 鈥 I hate disappointing people,鈥 said Osaka, who owns four Grand Slam trophies from the hard courts of the U.S. Open and Australian Open but never has been past the third round on the red clay of Roland-Garros.
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Then, referring to her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who used to work with Serena Williams, Osaka said: 鈥淗e goes from working with, like, the greatest player ever to, like, 鈥榃hat the (expletive) is this?鈥 You know what I mean? Sorry for cursing. I hope I don鈥檛 get fined.鈥
Osaka, who was born in Japan and moved to the United States as a young child, was undone Monday by 54 unforced errors. That was twice as many as Badosa, whose best showing at a major was in January and who reached the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros in 2021.
After taking the opening set, Osaka was treated by a trainer for hand blisters and also took time to clip her sakura-themed fingernails on the sideline.
She attributed the blisters, which also bothered her at the Italian Open this month, to 鈥渢he friction of clay, because I don鈥檛 have blisters on any other surface.鈥
Osaka鈥檚 powerful serves and groundstrokes are dulled by the clay, and that showed against Badosa. Osaka was broken five times and finished with nearly as many double-faults, five, as aces, seven.
Once ranked No. 1 and currently No. 49, Osaka withdrew from the French Open in 2021 before her second-round match, explaining that she experiences before speaking to the media and revealing she had dealt with depression. She then took multiple mental health breaks away from the tour.
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She helped usher in a change in the way athletes, sports fans and society at large understood the importance of mental health.
A year ago at Roland-Garros, Osaka played one of her best matches since returning to action after becoming a mother, coming within a point of .
On Monday, after taking a break from questions, she returned to field one query from a Japanese journalist with an eye to the next major tournament, Wimbledon, which begins on grass on June 30.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 necessarily know my grass-season schedule right now,鈥 Osaka said. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 really expecting to lose in the first round.鈥
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP鈥檚 tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: . More AP tennis:
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