Naomi Osaka reacts to her Madrid defeat by Aryna Sabalenka

Despite going up a set and a break, Naomi Osaka couldn’t hold off Aryna Sabalenka, falling short against the world number one.

She’d hinted at possible retirement following her first-round exit at the Miami Open last month.

Naomi didn’t play again until Madrid, where Sabalenka won 6(1)-7, 6-3, 6-2. Even with the loss, it was a much tighter contest compared to their previous meeting at Indian Wells.

Reflecting on the match, Osaka spoke about the improvement but also shared some frustration with how things played out in that second set.

Naomi Osaka frustrated after missing out on win against Aryna Sabalenka

Osaka has never really enjoyed playing on clay, with all seven of her tour titles coming on hard courts. But this performance in Madrid looked like progress for her.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Osaka was asked how she felt about her game on clay compared to a year ago.

Despite the loss, she said there were positives to take from how she played against Sabalenka.

“I mean, I think for me, like I can, I guess, obviously, like, losing is not a positive thing for me, but I can take positives from this match,” Osaka said.

“Obviously I feel like I’m in a better spot than I was last year. Last year I wasn’t ranked. This year I’m ranked. I can go to Rome as a seed, which is really cool for me. Yeah, it was a tough match.” And continued:

“Yeah… so just going there and knowing that every round’s important and trying not to get down on myself if things don’t go my way at first.”

When asked what stood out as positive from the match with Sabalenka, she focused again on how close it felt throughout.

“I think just knowing how close it was,” said Osaka. “I feel like every game was super close.”

One reporter suggested that the level of tennis Osaka played would likely have beaten most other players in the draw. But Osaka wasn’t interested in what-ifs or hypothetical wins.

“It’s situational,” she replied. “Like, I don’t really care if it beats a lot of other people because I wanted to beat her.” So it doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day…

What’s next for Naomi Osaka?

Osaka finds herself in a much better place than she was this time last year. Back then, she went out early at the Madrid Open and dropped down to a WTA 125 event in Saint-Malo, where she ended up taking the title.

Now ranked world number 15, Osaka will be hoping to keep her positive clay season going when she heads to the Italian Open next week.

Rome has been a friendlier venue than Madrid for her in the past, too – she’s won nine of her 15 matches there across different seasons.

Her best run came back in 2019 when she reached the quarterfinals. She also made it to the fourth round in both 2024 and 2025, falling just short of matching that earlier result.

The main draw of the Italian Open kicks off on Tuesday, May 5th, but as one of the seeded players, Osaka won’t be on court until Thursday.

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