Written by By Staff Writer, Emily Sprowls, CNN
Naomi Osaka is the newest member of the tennis newsfeed, despite having won her maiden WTA title just two months ago.
She made headlines after losing to her fellow 18-year-old Madison Keys in the final of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Monday, but there appears to be no hard feelings.
The Japanese player said she would congratulate her opponent and “sleep well” in an interview on Tuesday.
“I will lose the finals of every tournament I go to as long as I keep playing tennis. Nothing’s going to really bother me,” she said.
She added that a 4-1 loss to Keys at the US Open warm-up tournament in Stanford last September taught her a lesson about her physical limits.
Osaka was the eighth seed at Wimbledon in 2015 and had been tipped as a future star before a spate of upsets and injury saw her lose in the second round to Monica Niculescu.
She told the New York Times in August last year that it was “probably (too) early for a (top 10) ranking.”
Osaka said last week that the gruelling schedule has taken its toll, however, saying that “life is too short to think about tennis”.
For these reasons, she said she is not discouraged.
“I can sleep at night. I have just been playing for a long time and I feel that right now I can’t be prepared for this long a season.”
She said this summer she wants to “focus on my game and not worrying about winning.”