With Kimiko Date-Krumm not getting any younger and the likes of Ai Sugiyama long since retired Japanese tennis is in need of a new superstar in the women's game. While Kei Nishikori remains an exciting talent on the ATP Tour at WTA level there isn't a Japanese player who currently stands out...... with the exception of 18 year old Naomi Osaka.
Naomi came to prominence in Stanford 2014 when as a 16 year old she defeated Sam Stosur in the first round before losing to Andrea Petkovic in the next round. She has since kept a low profile but has continued to gain solid results in ITF level tournaments. Its notable that she has a win at this level over Belinda Bencic amongst others.
The Japanese player has a lot of power already (she only turned 18 last month) and has impressed me this week in WTA Hua Hin in Thailand where today she reached the Semi-finals. Naomi has hit 29 aces in her 3 matches and after struggling against Evgeniya Rodina in the first round has impressed with her serving winning over 80% of her 1st serve points and battled from a set down in each of her 3 matches, a sign of a champion in the making. Naomi also defeated Caroline Garcia in Singapore in an invitational event before the WTA Finals took place showing again her big game temperament.
Osaka has a Haitian dad and an Japanese mum and was actually born in Osaka, this could make a great story in the future. Now she is 18 Naomi can play a full schedule in 2016 on the WTA Tour so expect the Japanese player to ease into the WTA top 100 and maybe even top 50 and cause some big upsets along the way! One to watch
Naomi came to prominence in Stanford 2014 when as a 16 year old she defeated Sam Stosur in the first round before losing to Andrea Petkovic in the next round. She has since kept a low profile but has continued to gain solid results in ITF level tournaments. Its notable that she has a win at this level over Belinda Bencic amongst others.
The Japanese player has a lot of power already (she only turned 18 last month) and has impressed me this week in WTA Hua Hin in Thailand where today she reached the Semi-finals. Naomi has hit 29 aces in her 3 matches and after struggling against Evgeniya Rodina in the first round has impressed with her serving winning over 80% of her 1st serve points and battled from a set down in each of her 3 matches, a sign of a champion in the making. Naomi also defeated Caroline Garcia in Singapore in an invitational event before the WTA Finals took place showing again her big game temperament.
Osaka has a Haitian dad and an Japanese mum and was actually born in Osaka, this could make a great story in the future. Now she is 18 Naomi can play a full schedule in 2016 on the WTA Tour so expect the Japanese player to ease into the WTA top 100 and maybe even top 50 and cause some big upsets along the way! One to watch