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Naomi Osaka arrived on Centre Court wearing the outfit that has been the talk of Wimbledon: part Japanese ceremonial dress, part homage to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. She was dressed to thrill. But ultimately it was her tennis that spoke loudest of all.
On the other side of the net was Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1 and the biggest slugger in the women’s game.
Osaka not only handled her power, though, but had an astonished Sabalenka watching as winner after winner screeched past her on the way to a 6-2, 7-6 (2) mauling.
It was Sabalenka’s first straight‑sets defeat at a grand slam tournament since the 2020 US Open, and it had the Belarusian shaking her head in disbelief. “Obviously I’m not happy with the way I played,” she said. “She overpowered me. I felt like it was an incredible level from her.
“With every game we would play, I would feel worse, she would feel better. She would just go for her shots freely. I wouldn’t.”
Asked what her emotions were, Sabalenka smiled. “No emotions,” she said. “Just know that I can handle myself much better than last year. Obviously, guys, if you were expecting something really fun, not going to happen. Probably just going to be short answers. I fucked it up this year. Next year I’ll try to do better.
The bald statistics told the story. Osaka not only hit 21 winners to her opponent’s 15, she also hit three more aces – eight to five – against the biggest server in the women’s game. More important still, for someone who had never got beyond the third round at Wimbledon, she gave every impression of having solved the complex riddle of grass-court tennis.
“It has been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court, so to do it here means a lot,” Osaka said. “Going into this match, I had lost to Aryna three times in a row, which really sucked. I wanted to turn it over and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to do that.
“This court is so special and this is the first match I’ve won on it so it means a lot. My mum is over there, she cooks a lot and I feel like her cooking is powering me so I would really appreciate another meal tonight. She cooks a bunch of Japanese food, so shout out Japanese food.”
The 28-year-old Osaka has won four grand slam titles, the last of which came in Australia in 2021. But some feared she would never hit the highest notes again after the birth of her child, Shai, in July 2023.
Indeed, this time last year she was not in the world’s top 50, and that was 18 months into her comeback. Now, though, every possibility beckons for her – including her first Wimbledon title.
For decades, sports stars have been discouraged from anything that might distract them on the court. But Osaka, who is painfully shy, finds it easier to talk about her outfits than her tennis. And they have, she insists, helped her feel more like her authentic self whenever she plays.
Osaka, crucially, also stayed calm when she lost the first five points of the match, and having got into the match broke at 1-1 when a whipped cross-court backhand went just inside the line.
Sabalenka at her best is a fearsome player. But there is always a sense that she is only a couple of errant forehands away from boiling over. And so it proved. Having failed to convert two immediate break-back points to slip to 1-3 down, she then sent a forehand into the net and began a prolonged “Argh” that had Centre Court laughing.
Not that it helped. Sabalenka was quickly broken again to go 4-1 down and after half an hour the first set had gone.
Sabalenka tried to change her rackets but was never able to find her best tennis. “First points of the match, I was struggling a little bit. I was trying to, like, change my racquet, adjust my swings. I honestly tried everything I could today. Just seems like it wasn’t my day at all.”
After Sabalenka endured a late-match collapse against Diana Shnaider at the French Open, she reached out to her former psychologist. And at least she was able to stem the bleeding as she took the second set into a tie-break.
This is normally Sabalenka’s territory. She had won 21 of them in a row in grand slam tournaments. But Osaka again proved no respecter of reputations as she served an ace to go 2-1 up and then established clear blue water after Sabalenka made two forehand errors in a row.
Soon it was all over, with Sabalenka showing her frustration by smashing a ball out of Centre Court. “I just want to go and get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape,” she said.
Osaka, meanwhile, moves on to an intriguing quarter-final against the 10th seed Karolina Muchova. When asked what had ignited her belated love of grass, she broke into a broad smile and credited her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.
“The big Polish man! Shout out Tomasz,” she said. “Also a shout out to the rest of my team, they are the best team ever. I have so much fun with them and I learn so much from them, I’m so grateful they are on this journey with me.”
And on this form, who would dare bet against it finishing with Osaka lifting the Venus Rosewater dish on Saturday?
