Naomi Osaka channels Andre Agassi in ‘Challengers’ trip to Saint-Malo

ROME, Italy—Following a Mutua Madrid Open loss, Naomi Osaka made the bold move to drop down a level, Challengers-style, and enter a WTA 125K in Saint-Malo in the hopes of kickstarting her clay swing.

The move paid off and Osaka not only arrived to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with vital match wins under her belt, but she also captured her first trophy since becoming a mom in 2023.

“I've always told people that I'm okay, like, playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways,” Osaka said after a Campo Centrale win over Sara Errani on Wednesday. “The reason I came back wasn't to play on center courts all the time, it's because I really enjoy the game. I just want to see what I can do.”

While some stars would bristle at the notion of competing in an event comprised entirely of lower-ranked players, Osaka made the most of a different kind of week on her least favorite surface, trying her first crêpe and drawing inspiration from Andre Agassi’s Open memoir.

“There was a moment where, I don't know if he had to play a Challenger, but he was saying he was flipping his own scoreboards,” recalled Osaka of her fellow former world No. 1, who indeed played an ATP Challenger in the middle of a 1997 slump. “Someone came and yelled, like, ‘Image is everything’ [at him]. I would say that section of the book crossed my mind more.”

The 27-year-old felt in need of a mental reset after her Caja Magica campaign ended in the first round to Lucia Bronzetti, taking to Threads and declaring she was “done with the crashout.

“I refuse to be sad,” Osaka declared between emojis. “I rebuke it.”

I've always told people that I'm okay, like, playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways. The reason I came back wasn't to play on center courts all the time, it's because I really enjoy the game. I just want to see what I can do. Naomi Osaka

Osaka looked back on the post with a laugh, joking, “ I'm not going to use Threads anymore.

“The only times I feel disappointed when I lose is when I know that I didn't give it my all or mentally I copped out or something like that,” she said. “I knew I did that and Madrid, and that's why I felt very disappointed in myself.

“From that moment I promised myself I was going to give 100% no matter what because there's no point in playing matches or practicing, it would be a waste of everyone's time. Like, I have so many people, yeah, there's a lot of people with me. There's people with me that I value their time. I know that I want to make the most of it.

“I'm a very big over-thinker,” she concluded after a pause. “I try to think of every scenario like five different times.”

Some of that overthinking has prevented Osaka, who said she prefers only to speak when spoken to, from reaching out to her team for help. A week in Saint-Malo appeared to help her reach a new plateau with coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

“I hate inconveniencing people,” she explained. “I don't really like to talk to people if I have problems. I'd rather just solve it by myself. Obviously with Patrick we talk, but sometimes I don't tell him exactly what I'm thinking.

“After Madrid, going into Saint-Malo, we had a conversation about me telling him exactly how I feel before going into matches. Even today I told him that I was nervous obviously because I want to do well here coming off of the win that I just had. So that definitely helped a lot.”

On her longest win streak since the 2022 Miami Open, Osaka will look to win a seventh straight match in her upcoming second round against No. 9 seed Paula Badosa.