Naomi Osaka a commencé sa saison avec une finale mais aussi et surtout des doutes concernant son état physique. Dimanche, après le gain du premier set contre Clara Tauson en finale à Auckland, la Japonaise a fait appel au kiné avant de jeter l'éponge. A une semaine de l'Open d'Australie, le timing était mauvais. C'est un euphémisme. En larmes après cet abandon, Osaka s'était tout de même montrée rassurante dans la foulée. Vendredi, en conférence de presse, la Japonaise s'est montrée franche. La situation n'est pas parfaite mais elle affrontera bien Caroline Garcia au premier tour. "Je suis assez optimiste quant à mon match. Je vais certainement jouer mon match".
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00:00Hello everyone, we'll get started. Naomi, just your thoughts on being back here in Melbourne.
00:08Is this supposed to be this low? I think it's working, yeah. Okay, okay. Okay, cool. Sorry,
00:19sorry. Thoughts on being back in Melbourne? I mean, for me, it's probably the place that I
00:27hold, I mean, here in New York, the best memories of my career and Tokyo. But yeah, I'm just really
00:35happy to be back. And I came here from Auckland and it was a little rainy, so it's good to be in
00:40the sun. All right, questions. We'll go ahead here. Tennis Australia, I read that you had an
00:49MRI scan after Auckland. I was wondering if you'd be happy to share the results of that and what
00:54your shape is after that injury coming into this tournament? Well, I'm normally a really honest
01:02person, but I probably won't answer your question honestly. But I mean, the MRI wasn't great. It
01:09wasn't like fantastic, but it wasn't bad at the same time. So saying all that to say, I'm pretty
01:16optimistic about playing my match. I mean, for sure, I'm going to play my match. And yeah, I've
01:23been practicing pretty well for the two days that I've been here. So it seems to be going good.
01:28I want to ask about your deja vu first round here against Garcia. What was your thought when you saw
01:37that? And I guess you, I feel like you've gotten to know her better also over the last year as
01:40well. So can you just talk about seeing her again and how, what's changed between you two in the
01:44last year? Yeah, I honestly thought, I asked Stewart and I thought he was joking when he said
01:52that. But I don't know. I feel like we haven't played in a couple of months, so maybe it was to
01:59be expected too. But yeah, I would say my relationship with her, it's definitely grown a
02:08lot. I can't say like we're BFFs, but I really respect her a lot and I feel the same energy
02:16coming from her. And I also like the fact that we were born on the same day. So we have the same
02:23birthdays. So I can't ever have bad blood with a fellow Libra.
02:31Jackson from Tennis Australia. I was just wondering what your mindset was like for going into the
02:36first grand slam of the year. How are you feeling going into it? Yeah, at a place that you've done
02:42so well in the past? Yeah, I think my mindset now is probably the most clear it's been in a very long
02:51time. Obviously, I did pretty well in Auckland. I know I lost, debatably lost in the final, but in my
03:00head, I kind of won it. And for me, that's definitely a new career stat because I've only ever been to
03:08the semis and tournaments before this one. So I'm really excited to play here. And I'm also excited to
03:16be here with Patrick because we technically haven't lost yet. So yeah, it's going to be a good run, I
03:26think. How do you compare where you were a year ago when you were showing up here and coming out of the
03:39maternity leave and how things have changed in the last year and how your brain is in a different place
03:46now? How do you compare those two sort of mental exercises? Um, yeah, I would say when I came here
03:54last year, it was kind of like hopes and dreams. And me sitting here is like reality. Which it's funny because I do
04:06have the same hopes and dreams, but it's more like understanding how much hard work it takes to, I guess,
04:13come to this point. And very transparently for me, I feel like the tennis was kind of always there in a way. It was
04:25just the belief of feeling like I can string together victories, if the conditions were bad, or if I thought I wasn't
04:34playing as well as I could have. So I feel like I've learned that throughout the course of 2024. And I guess
04:41Auckland as well. And yeah, I would say I am a little bit of a different person now. Hopefully.
04:52Charlie and then just behind you.
04:55Before matches and then during, what are the kind of rituals you have for eating and drinking and fueling? Like, do
05:01you have a set menu that you always have? Do you change it up?
05:06I'm sorry, I'm just laughing at a thought, not your question. I am a little bit of a superstitious person. So I do kind of
05:16have rituals that I like to, I guess, keep in order. And I also, knock on wood, would hate to get food poisoning from
05:27switching it up. So I typically do eat the same thing before every match, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I haven't eaten
05:38breakfast here yet. But I would assume it would consist of like smoked salmon, because that's what I always do smoke
05:43salmon and eggs. And then before matches, I always eat like rice and chicken. And then dinner. Dinner is the wild card.
05:53Yeah, just behind. Yeah.
05:57I'd just like to ask about Yutaka Nakamori, who started working with Radhikarni. If you could just share some of your
06:04memories of working with him and what you think it is about him that makes him so good at what he does.
06:10You're gonna hate to ask me this question. I'm not going to give you anything. What I remember about Yutaka, I mean, he's
06:17great at his job. He's super funny. He loves to take selfies. He loves sushi. So she's gonna be at every sushi restaurant in
06:26town. And yeah, he's just an overall really kind person. That's something that I remember about him a lot. He's just very
06:36kind, very empathetic, and just lovely. You're welcome for this very detailed answer.
06:46All right, last two English questions. Russell.
06:51I know when you lost that final, in quotes, in Auckland, it was very upsetting at the time. How much of a big deal is it for you to win a
06:59first title since you came back to the tour? I don't know how you define success these days, whether that really matters to you.
07:06Yeah, I mean, in that moment, it was devastating. I felt like it was basically like I could touch it, you know. And it just sucked
07:17because I felt like my body wasn't keeping up with what my mind wanted it to do. And obviously, I was very concerned about my chances
07:25playing here. So I felt like the best decision was to pull out even though I really didn't want to. But yeah, it's also in my mind at that
07:39moment, it was like an accumulation of losing in first rounds in 2024, and wanting and hoping to eventually get to a final. And then obviously,
07:50when I did, I couldn't play anymore. So yeah, I'm kind of strangely over it now. Like 30 minutes after that happened, I was over it because I felt like
08:04I'm playing really well. And I can only just keep continuing and hopefully I'll get to another final.
08:13Right, last English question, Catherine. Yeah.
08:15Hi, Nuby. I just wanted to ask about the process of physical training postpartum. Obviously, most kind of expertise and research on elite athletic training
08:27sort of is centered on the default male body. I just wondered if you could sort out anyone with specific expertise on female bodies postpartum and how that affects
08:42sort of elite level athletic, physical training?
08:49I feel like my answer might get me in trouble. But I feel like I just trust the people around me so much. And I feel like their knowledge is something that I treasure a lot.
09:04So I just kind of run with what they think is best. And that was kind of my whole postpartum plan. I'm so sorry. You asked a great question. And I'm like, I did not give you a great answer at all.
09:19But yeah, I mean, after giving birth, it was definitely really tough to even run. So I do understand why people think, well, I do understand why it's very difficult to, I guess, get to professional level,
09:39especially after postpartum. But for me, I've been also been doing sports since I was like three. So it's a little bit natural. But yeah, I'm not the greatest person to ask.
09:57It's fascinating. I don't know how much expertise there even is out there.
10:02Yeah, I feel like there is no guidebook, but you kind of just go off what your body says, or like everyone's body is different. So for me, I felt like I could withstand a lot more training than probably, I don't want to say an average person, but a non sports person.
10:21Thank you. Other Japanese questions? Yeah.
10:25Yeah, okay. Yeah.
10:27Long time no see.
10:28Long time no see.
10:29Long time no see.
10:31Speaking in Japanese.
10:46Yeah, so thank you for your compliments. But the off season I did in LA, and I would say actually, since pulling out of Beijing, my match against Coco, I've been doing like on and off physical training.
11:06I went to Tokyo after that to, I guess, show my daughter around, but I brought Flo with me. So we were training that entire time. So however many months from Tokyo to, I guess, Auckland was the amount of time that I've been training.
11:24Yeah, the majority of it was in LA. I actually practiced at UCLA for most of the time, and I got like eight parking tickets. So, love that for me.
11:38Yeah, go ahead.
11:54Speaking in Japanese.
12:05Yeah, I think definitely last year was a little unusual for me, just because I also made a commitment to myself to play as many tournaments as I could.
12:16That was really fun because I could see places that I haven't seen in a very long time or experienced new tournaments.
12:25But I think this year I'm making it a priority to obviously play less than last year, but I want to do better in each tournament.
12:36So it's not like I'm going into my schedule, like marking tournaments off or anything. It's sort of a more wing it as I go. And I hope that I do really well at this tournament so I can kind of start my schedule off in a more, I would say, consistent manner.
12:56Okay. Oh, yeah. One last question in Japanese. Yeah.
13:05Speaking in Japanese.
13:18Yeah, I do remember talking to Caroline on her podcast, and I do know that we had pretty good conversations, and she's also talked about her mental health as well. So it's that Lever connection once again.
13:35But yeah, I feel honestly like most tennis players probably feel the same things. We just express it in different ways, or we just go about it in different ways. So yeah, that's kind of my answer to that. And then also, I totally blanked out and forgot the rest of your question. Can you repeat it? I'm so sorry.
14:05Speaking in Japanese.
14:17Oh my god. Is there a translator? I'm so sorry. When I get tired, I can't translate in my head.
14:24Okay, yeah. Can you help? Yeah.
14:26I'm so sorry.
14:27What are you basically every day? What are you doing in terms of protecting your mental health?
14:35Okay. Sorry.
14:39What am I doing every day?
14:43I meditate.
14:46I meditate. And sometimes I listen to I guess water noises, like rain, or ocean, or forest noises. And I also like to write in my notebook a lot, just to keep track of my thoughts.