‘Do you think he’s trying?’ -Serena Williams’ effortless game floored a young Naomi Osaka as she spoke about her greatness

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka have faced each other four times so far in their career. Although Osaka had a better head-to-head record against Serena, the two always bring extra energy to the court.

In 2018, Serena faced Osaka for the first time in her career at the Miami Open. Earlier, the Japanese player talked about facing Serena in a dream match, since she always wanted to face her. However, after playing against Serena, Osaka opened up about her unusual experience facing the legendary American tennis player.

Naomi Osaka spoke about her experience facing Serena Williams for the first time

At the post-match press conference, osaka he made everyone laugh with his hilarious and humorous answers. Talking about playing Serena in the first round, Osaka was in awe of her Serena idol, since she said, “Sometimes he plays games where he doesn’t say ‘come on’ at all. And that’s kind of sad, because it’s like, do you think he’s trying? He only wanted her to say ‘come on’ once because then he knew she might give it a little try. So once I heard the first ‘come on’, I was like, Yeah!“

Later, then-Osaka coach Sascha Bajin talked about her amazing personality during interviews, while talking about her being real. “She is just being real. She’s just being herself, and I think that’s very refreshing for a lot of people. Many people in this world, unfortunately, not only to protect themselves but not to allow people to get close to them, start faking emotions.” Bajin said.

In particular, Osaka absolutely destroyed serene in their first matchup at the Miami Open; the end score it was 6-3,6-2 in favor of the Japanese player. Although Osaka attended the press conference, Serena did not attend. She therefore received a $1,000 fine from the WTA.

Osaka and Serena’s infamous encounter at the US Open

Although the first meeting between Osaka and Serena was less dramatic, the second meeting, however, had a lot of drama. This time, they met in the US Open final in 2018. It’s safe to say the pressure was more on Serena as she was seeking her 24th Grand Slam title. Whereas, Osaka was relatively new at that stage and in contention for her first Grand Slam title.

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From the start, Osaka played fearless tennis and won the first set in no time. The situation then got a bit out of control as chair umpire Carlos Ramos committed a coaching infraction against Serena, which made the American tennis player very angry when she confronted the chair umpire about it. Serena later received a second code violation for breaking her racket, resulting in a one point penalty.

Despite receiving a second violation, Serena did not stop arguing as she called the chair umpire a ‘thief’, resulting in another code violation. As a result, she received a game penalty, which put her in a difficult position to come back from the match. Ultimately, Osaka won the match in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam title. As for Serena, she is still looking for her 24th Grand Slam title as we will see her at the US Open in 2022.