The four-time Slam champion feels she has taken a giant step in returning to tennis this month. Naomi Osaka took a huge step by returning to tennis after shutting down her season early into 2021, which was a trying her for her on the personal front: she suffered from mental health issues and struggled to find joy while playing under the white-hot media spotlight.

This year at the Australian Open, things were different. Not only was Naomi’s tennis back – so was her joy and love for the sport.

Despite a disappointing loss to Amanda Anisimova on Friday, the four-time major champ says she is immensely proud of her achievement.

“I fought for every point,” she said. “I can't be sad about that. You know, like I'm not God. I can't win every match, you know. So I just have to, like, take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that's, like, really special, you know, and I can't, like, think of myself to try to win the Grand Slam at the start of the year every time.”

At 24 years old, Osaka is still growing, and for now, she’s enjoying that process.

“For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match,” she said. “The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude, so I'm really happy with – you know, of course I lost, but I'm happy with how it went.”

Osaka says her goals are simple in 2022. Have a great attitude and everything else will take care of itself.

“I just want to go into this year, like, knowing that I'll play the whole year and I'll just have, like, the greatest attitude ever,” she said. “You know, like I'll fight for every point. Even if I win or lose, I'll just go off the court knowing that I tried the hardest that I could, and there is no way that anyone can expect anything more from me, because they saw, like, how hard I fought.

“So of course that's the goal, and I think if I keep that mentality, I'll be able to win more matches, of course. There is going to be moments like this where I'm disappointed, but I feel like the losses is what I learn the most from.”

The Aussie says she'll never forget the key lessons she learned on that day. By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday January 21, 2022

Tennis is a game for life, and the more we can hang onto and grow from our experiences the better we can be. It’s true for recreational hacks like myself, and it’s also true for the best players in the world. Take World No.1 Ash Barty for instance.

On Friday night in Melbourne Barty reflected on her wild 2019 semifinal with Amanda Anisimova at Roland-Garros.

The match was played under some of the most brutal weather conditions, with spots of rain and gusting wind. Barty dropped the first set and found herself down 3-0 in the second before turning things around.

It’s an experience she’ll never forget.

“I remember that I learned a lot from that moment,” she said. “That was a turning point in my career, and you have to be able to take learnings from those moments, as hard as they are sometimes, and I was able to navigate and find a way through. Which at that point in my life, in my career, it was a massive turning point.”

Barty went on to defeat Marketa Vondrousova in the final for her first major title. The general feeling was that it was a huge surprise that the Aussie won her first major on clay.

“Yeah, obviously it feels like it's a lifetime ago, but some of those memories are still really vivid,” she said. “Without a doubt we will take that and use that experience, use those feelings and those emotions as best we can come Sunday.”

Barty says what sticks with her is learning how to rely on herself as a problem solver.

“I remember the biggest moment of that match was coming out of the chair at 3-Love down the second set,” she said. “I remember that to this very day what I was saying to myself at that change of ends. From then on, it's held me in pretty good stead, sticking to those values and continuing to try and grow each and every time on court and problem-solve and work my way through.

“It hasn't worked every time, but it's made me really comfortable and made me feel like I belong out on the court. I get to do it my way. I get to be unique. I get to experiment and I get to have fun with it.”