Naomi Osaka's hilarious reaction after realising she blew match point in Iga Swiatek loss
Naomi Osaka was in good spirits despite blowing a lead against Iga Swiatek.
Naomi Osaka revealed that she didn't even know that she had a match point in her rollercoaster match against Iga Swiatek at the French Open. The former world No. 1 stormed back after dropping the opening set, winning nine of the next 10 games.
She served for the upset in the final set and had the match on her racket but ultimately lost the last five games as the three-time Roland Garros champion came through 7-6(1) 1-6 7-5.
But Osaka was none the wiser about the significance of her lead and had a hilarious reaction when she was told that she held a match point.
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Osaka and Swiatek produced three hours of pure entertainment on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday as their match stretched into the night session slot. 12 months ago, Osaka was at home, pregnant, watching the world No. 1 lift the trophy.
This year, she gave the unstoppable 22-year-old a run for her money, proving that she was well and truly back in the big time as she dropped just one game in the second set and led 5-2 in the third. Osaka had a 0-30 lead on Swiatek's serve and held a match point at 5-3 but couldn't get the job done.
But the four-time Grand Slam champion had no regrets about her performance and wasn't even aware that she was a point away from taking the match. "Yeah, so at 5-3, I mean, I definitely felt like I had a chance, but I think I was playing point by point," she explained after the match.
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Osaka then cut herself off as she questioned whether she had a match point. She continued: " Eventually I didn't have that chance anymore. But I kind of think of it more as an opportunity, like, I had the opportunity to -- I'm not even sure if I had a match point. Maybe I did."
And she had a fitting response when she learned the truth. "I did? That sucks," she laughed. It's no surprised that the 26-year-old was none the wiser, as she wasn't even keeping an eye on the score.
"Honestly, I was kind of playing point by point. I had to frequently look at the scoreboard to know what the score was. I was aware of the score when I was serving for it," she said. "I don't, like, looking back, I don't necessarily feel like I regret anything.
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"I do think if I did regret something, it would actually be the first game that she was serving, and I was up 30-Love, and I was debating in my head whether I should return her second serve close or not, and I ended up returning it farther back. That's the only thing I kind of regret. Other than that, I'm kind of taking it as a process."
Despite losing her lead, Osaka was happy with her performance. The former world No. 1 had plenty to be proud of after producing the best clay performance of her year a few months into her return from pregnancy. "It's not the worst. Like, I felt worse, for sure. I cried when I got off the court," she added.
"But then, you know, for me, I kind of realise I was watching Iga, like, win this tournament last year, and I was pregnant. It was just my dream to be able to play her. When I kind of think of it like that, I think I'm doing pretty well. And I'm also just trying not to be too hard on myself. I feel like I played her on her better surface. I'm a hard-court kid, so I would love to play her on my surface and see what happens."
