Osaka ready to ‘fight hardest’ for Australian Open title

Naomi Osaka says a belief “people don’t remember the runners-up” will fuel her bid for a fourth major title when she faces American Jennifer Brady in Saturday’s Australian Open final.

Brady, seeded 22th, is in her first Slam final and looking to avenge defeat by Osaka in the US Open semi-finals.

“The winner’s name is the one that’s engraved,” said third seed Osaka.

“I think I fight the hardest in the finals. I think that’s where you sort of set yourself apart. The other person has won as many matches as you did. It’s the biggest fight.”

Osaka, whose major wins have come at the 2018 US Open, 2019 Australian Open and 2020 US Open, goes into the match as the heavy favourite against 25-year-old Brady.

It is a rematch of their high-quality semi-final in New York, which was widely considered as the best WTA match of 2020.

Brady had never gone past the fourth round at a Grand Slam before reaching the last four at Flushing Meadows and says she will have to keep her emotions in check in the Melbourne final.

“I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I can say I can enjoy the moment and just try to play tennis and not really think too much about it,” she said.

“But there are going to be moments where I’m going to be thinking ‘wow, this could be my first Grand Slam title’.”

As well as her previous Grand Slam pedigree, Osaka holds a 20-match winning streak which goes back to early February last year.

On paper, she had a tough route to the Melbourne final but has swatted aside the likes of 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and 2020 Australian Open runner-up Garbine Muguruza.

She has yet to lose a Grand Slam match after reaching the quarter-final stage, but faces a different scenario on Saturday as the most experienced player.

Former Grand Slam champions Williams, Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka were all beaten in Osaka’s three Grand Slam triumphs.

“I feel like experience is important because you can draw on the things you didn’t think you did well in the past and memories.”

“But at the same time, I acknowledge that not having experience is also good because I didn’t have experience when I won my first Slam. There’s a certain hard-headedness that comes with not winning a Slam before. There are two sides to every story.”

BBC Online