The Olympics of Naomi Osaka have ended.
In the third round, Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech player, defeated the tennis star.
Osaka was representing Japan at the 2020 Games, which were postponed. This undoubtedly contributed to Osaka’s disappointment after Tuesday’s straight-set loss.
“I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” Osaka said, per the Associated Press.
“I’m not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher,” she added.
She was not the only one with high expectations. Osaka was determined to win gold for her host country.To officially kick off the Olympics, she was even given the immense honor of lighting the Olympic torch.It seemed that the 24-year old carried the entire world’s weight.
“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said after the match. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year [it] was a bit much.”
“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure,” she added. “So that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”
Even her opponent recognized just how much that pressure most likely affected the winner of four Grand Slam tournaments.
Vondrousova — the 42nd-ranked player in the world — said she “cannot imagine” having to manage that level of expectations under the world’s brightest lights.
“It’s tough for her also playing in Japan and in the Olympics,” Vondrousova said. “It’s so much pressure.”Osaka will reconvene before presumably heading to New York to compete in next month’s US Open. The hard hitter has seen great success in Flushing Meadows, winning two of her four Grand Slam titles at that event.Vondrousova, meanwhile, is set to face the Spaniard Paula Badosa in the quarterfinal on Wednesday morning in Tokyo.
@INSIDER