Naomi Osaka Is Having Fun In Her U.S. Open Run

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 1: Naomi Osaka of Japan celebrates her fourth round victory against Coco Gauff of USA on day nine of the 2025 US Open Tennis Championships at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2025 in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

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Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff deserved their own ring walks as they came out to do battle in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Monday. Osaka was the defending champion and Gauff the rising child prodigy when they first met on Arthur Ashe six years ago. Their story reels have evolved to the backdrop of external noise and big bold branding. These two transcend tennis.

They both sing their own life song to the next generation, reaching way beyond the 25,000 crowd that didn’t know who to shout for. The result on court was a repeat dose of one-way traffic. The Japanese dominated as if it was 2019 all over again.

Osaka suddenly has the buzz of the big game hunter who won four Grand Slams out of four. She smiled and breezed through the ups and occasional downs while Gauff is fraught with the worry that comes with a reboot of technique. Osaka was travelling light on her feet as her opponent looked like she had excess baggage all week in NYC.

It wasn’t so long ago that the two-time U.S. and Australian Open winner admitted her struggles with anxiety, depression and mental health issues. Sport was the easy bit, but there was no pushing past other demons as she dropped from the scene after her 2021 Melbourne victory over Jennifer Brady, her last big trophy and dominant performance.

Osaka was the highest-paid female athlete that year with a box set of lucrative endorsements. When she took a further break from the game after the birth of her daughter, she also grabbed the narrative by co-founding her own sports agency and creating a media production firm alongside LeBron James that “disrupted the default.”

Her return to tennis was lukewarm with a 22-17 record in results through 2024, which did not match the former world No. 1’s very high expectations. Osaka has always struggled with herself rather than the other side of the net. She hates to disappoint. She also hates to lose. Now, the winning machine is revving up again even if it is in fits and starts. A guaranteed place in the WTA top 20 awaits, whatever the immediate future holds here.

When she went out early at Flushing Meadows last year to her quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday, Karolina Muchova, Osaka claimed that a piece of her heart “dies” after a loss. There was still a sense of regaining the feel in her body after maternity. The tennis could only really sparkle when she felt in control of the bounce that a newborn could give. The difficulties of dealing with defeat will come again, as they did when she was criticised for not congratulating Victoria Mboko in the Canadian Open final last month.

Osaka said her fighting victory over Liudmila Samsonova in Montreal flicked a switch that lit the spark. There were glimmers of the magnificent past at the 2024 French Open against Iga Swiatek when Osaka won the second set 6-1 and was within a point of going 5-1 up in the decider. People kept reminding her of that near miss. The magic was still there. Her power game can destroy the world’s best on her day. There just haven’t been that many days for the 27-year-old since she stopped building up her collection of hard court majors.

Whether there are three more joyful times in the next five days is not the point. Osaka could meet Swiatek, the new Queen of invincibility in major finals, at the last four stage. She’s a little out of practice at the business end of slams, but anything is possible with a 12-0 record after reaching the quarterfinals in all previous majors.

When Osaka beat the teenage Gauff, she embraced the moment. “I am sorry for playing you in this mentality. It was super fun!” said the then-defending champion. Osaka is in that mode right now. When she’s shooting from the hip, everyone else has to scramble.