‘This One Sucks’: Osaka Distraught After Straight-Sets Defeat in Tokyo

Naomi Osaka admitted the pressure had got to her after falling to a straight-sets defeat in the third round of the Olympic tennis tournament. “I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” Osaka said after a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to 42nd-ranked Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Making a return to competition after a two-month mental-health break, the Japanese world No. 2 became the iconic image of the Tokyo Games after lighting the Olympic cauldron last Friday night. She said that had been the honor of her life but there had been too much pressure on court. “I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” she told reporters. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year [it] was a bit much.”

The Associated Press said Osaka—who walked out of the French Open after deciding she no longer wanted to talk to the press—left the court after Tuesday’s defeat without saying anything, but came back a bit later and spoke to a small group of reporters. “I’ve taken long breaks before and I’ve managed to do well,” she said. “I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”