Naomi Osaka shouts out daughter during otherwise ‘negative' postmatch interview

Miami Herald

5 hours ago

When life gets you down, think about the things you love most.
That's what tennis player Naomi Osaka did as she was searching for positivity following a rough third-round loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at this year's Wimbledon Championships.
Osaka, who has never advanced past the third round at Wimbledon, won the first set 6-3 before dropping the next two sets 6-4, 6-4.
'I'm just going to be a negative human being today, I'm so sorry,' Osaka said in her postmatch interview shared by ESPN. 'I have nothing positive to say about myself, which is something I'm working on.'
Osaka then took a brief pause as she searched for something positive to say.
'I think, um, yeah… I mean, it was my daughter's birthday so I was happy about that this week,' she continued. 'But other than that… I'm just constantly replaying the match now.'
Osaka welcomed her only child — a daughter named Shai — with her boyfriend, Cordae, in July 2023.
The couple, who went public with their relationship in July 2019 after months of speculation, announced that they were expecting their first child together on Instagram in January 2023.
'I realize that life is so short and I don't take any moments for granted, every day is a new blessing and adventure,' Osaka wrote alongside a photo of an ultrasound, per Olympics.com.
'I know that I have so much to look forward to in the future, one thing I'm looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, 'that's my mom,' haha,' she added at the time.
On July 2, following her second-round win against Kateřina Siniaková at Wimbledon, Osaka took to Instagram to wish her daughter a happy second birthday.
'Happy Shai day,' she captioned a video of her winning rally with Siniaková.
She also wrote, 'My big girl is 2 years old. I can't believe it!' in a Threads post later that day.
Osaka questions media over 'sad' narrative
It didn't take long for Osaka's postmatch interview on July 4 to go viral.
Fans quickly took to the comment section of ESPN's Instagram post to share their support for Osaka, who has been outspoken about her depression and mental health struggles in the past.
'I really want yall to protect her mental health,' one fan wrote in a comment.
'Sending so much love her way. postpartum life takes so much adjustment. she is such a light and i wish her nothing but love, peace and healing,' another fan wrote.
Later that day, Osaka took to Threads to react to ESPN's coverage of her.
'Bro why is it every time I do a press conference after a loss the espns and blogs gotta clip it and put it up,' she wrote of her postmatchinterview.
'Why don't they clip my press conferences after I win? Like why push the narrative that I'm always sad?' she added.
She followed that up with a dose of positivity in a separate Threads post.
'Sure I was disappointed a couple hours ago, now I'm motivated to do better. That's human emotions. The way they clip me I feel like I should be fake happy all the time.'
In 2021, Osaka announced that she wouldn't be taking part in press conferences at the French Open due to the effect they have on her mental health.
She later decided to pull out of the tournament and took a brief hiatus from the sport altogether.
The 27-year-old has won seven titles in her career, including four major wins — the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.