Naomi Osaka's Tough Moment in Early 2025

INDIAN WELLS, WEDNESDAY — Naomi Osaka is still struggling to showcase her best performance in the 2025 competitive season. After withdrawing from matches due to injuries in two tournaments, the former world number one tennis player was eliminated in the first round of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells.

At the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, United States, on Wednesday night local time (5/3/2025) or Thursday afternoon Indonesian time (6/3/2025), Osaka lost to Camila Osorio with a score of 4-6, 4-6. This result is worse compared to her performance reaching the third round a year ago, when Osaka had just returned to the WTA Tour competition in early 2024. She did not compete throughout 2023 due to pregnancy.

Osaka, who won the 2018 WTA Indian Wells, actually began her 2025 season with a promising performance. She carried great hopes alongside her new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, since October 2024.

Osaka hopes that the former coach of Serena Williams can help her return to her best performance, as she had before taking a break from tournaments in September 2022. Prior to stepping away from competition due to mental health issues and pregnancy, Osaka won four Grand Slam titles: the 2018 and 2020 US Open, as well as the 2019 and 2021 Australian Open. However, returning to peak performance after being absent from tournaments and giving birth has proven to be challenging.

Nevertheless, Osaka maintained her spirit and replaced coach Wim Fisette with Mouratoglou in pursuit of better results. As part of her preparation to compete in the Australian Open Grand Slam 2025, she trained rigorously during the preseason break.

The Japanese tennis player competed in the WTA 250 Auckland as a warm-up for Melbourne Park and reached the final. It was her first final since being defeated by Iga Swiatek in the WTA 1000 Miami final in 2022.

However, Osaka was unable to complete the final match against Clara Tauson. She withdrew after losing the first set 4-6 due to an abdominal injury that made it difficult for her to serve.

At the Australian Open, the stage of competition she had been waiting for, Osaka also left the court with the status of retired. She retired in the third round against Belinda Bencic.

The moment came after Osaka defeated tough competitors in the first two rounds, namely Caroline Garcia and Karolina Muchova in the first and second rounds. However, an abdominal injury that has not recovered seems to have wiped out her hard preparation and high spirits.

Osaka then had a month off to play at Indian Wells after missing the Middle East tournaments, the WTA 1000 Doha and Dubai, in February. However, she still struggled to perform consistently even in one match.

Osaka's groundstrokes were actually more powerful against Osorio, but she still made a lot of errors until Osorio won the opening set by stealing Osaka's serve in the first game.

Osorio maintained the momentum in the second set. Despite failing to convert a match point in the eighth game at 5-3 on Osaka's serve, the Colombian won the match. Osorio will make his first appearance in the second round at Indian Wells against Tauson, who received a bye in the opening round as one of the 32 seeds.

Besides Osaka, another Grand Slam champion who was eliminated in the first round was Petra Kvitova. The two-time Wimbledon champion lost to Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 3-6, 4-6. In contrast, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced to the second round after defeating 18-year-old Clervie Ngounoue 4-6, 6-7 (7).

In the men's tennis competition in the same place, at the ATP Masters 1000 level, Carlos Alcaraz had the opportunity to become the third men's singles with a hattrick of champions. However, he put the opportunity out of his mind and will enjoy every moment, including during practice.

The world number three Spaniard has a great chance to add to his Indian Wells title haul in the absence of Jannik Sinner, the world's top-ranked Italian, who was out of the tournament from Feb. 9 to May 4 due to a doping conviction a year earlier.

Sinner is the most dangerous player, including for Alcaraz, because he has had the most consistent performance since 2024 by winning eight titles. He also started 2025 by defending his Australian Open title. However, the 23-year-old had to miss the tournament due to a suspension.

With two titles won in 2023 and 2024, Alcaraz is the favorite to win the title in 2025 despite coming in as the second seed, behind Alexander Zverev. If he can make that opportunity come true, Alcaraz will match the achievements of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as three consecutive Indian Masters champions.

Federer won a hat trick of five titles at Indian Wells from 2004-2006. Djokovic also has five titles at Indian Wells, three of which came from 2014-2016.

"I try not to think about the opportunity. I just want to enjoy it because every time I come here, I really enjoy every game and also training. Everything always goes well here. We'll see what happens, but, if the opportunity can happen, of course it would be amazing," said Alcaraz.

The 21-year-old also assessed that Sinner's absence would not change his perspective in playing each match. "Jannik's absence does make the competition more open, but there are still many other good players. I will just focus on what I have to do and try to play as well as possible," he said.

As one of the 32 seeds, the four-time Grand Slam champion will start his campaign in the second round after receiving a bye in the first round. His opponent will be either Pablo Carreno Busta who qualified from the qualifying phase or Quentin Halys.

Alcaraz should be able to get through the second through fourth rounds to make a possible quarterfinal meeting with Djokovic a reality. If fit, Djokovic has a chance to stop Alcaraz as he did in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January. At that time, Djokovic played with pain in his left hamstring, which turned out to be caused by a tear.

Djokovic retired against Zverev in the semifinals and was still limping for weeks afterward. Alcaraz should have capitalized on this, especially as the match was played in a best-of-three sets format that usually favors younger players.

Alongside Alcaraz and Djokovic are seeded Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rublev in the bottom half of the draw. Zverev will compete with Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the top half. (AFP)