Update 1/7/21: Naomi Osaka beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic on Friday, advancing to Saturday’s semi-final against Russia’s Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova.

Naomi Osaka returned to competitive tennis this week, first defeating Alizé Cornet in the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set. Osaka decisively defeated Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday advancing to Friday’s quarter finals, facing Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.

Melbourne 1 is a prelude to the Australian Open, a grand slam event and is currently scheduled for Monday, January 17 to Sunday, January 30.

Playing Cornet, Naomi Osaka had 57 unforced errors, eight of them double faults. Her Thursday 6-1, 6-1 win over Zanevska was decisive.

"I only really have one major goal this year, and it's completely unrelated to results and stuff like that," Osaka said post-match.

"For me, I just want to feel like every time I step on the court I'm having fun. I can walk off the court knowing that even if I lost, I tried as hard as I could."

"I actually really thought I wasn't going to play for most of this year," Osaka told reporters. "I'm really happy with myself that I love the sport that much because I literally said that I was unsure when I was going to play after the US Open and I'm here right now.

"In the break, I was feeling like I didn't know what my future was going to be. I'm pretty sure a lot of people can relate to that. Of course, you never know what the future holds, but it was definitely an indecisive time.

"But I'm really happy to be sitting here right now."

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka further reflected on her own personality and conditioning and her tendency to internalize everything that happens to her.

Over the holidays, AOC watched Osaka’s Netflix documentary series, where this tendency is very obvious. We note that looking at Naomi Osaka’s website just now, we were impacted about how powerful and confident it is. It may be singularly the boldest self-presentation ever — which makes the complexities of Naomi’s psychology of greater interest. She is such an outstanding role model for young women worldwide, and AOC wishes Naomi well in 2022.

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