But will the lighthearted moment score points with the G. O. A. T.?
If Naomi Osaka was trying to charm Serena Williams before their U. S. Open final match on Saturday, it was a damn good attempt.
Osaka had just dispatched Madison Keys in a semifinal Thursday night and explained that she was able to fend off 13 break points by thinking of one thing: “I just really want to play Serena.”
Asked if she had a message for Williams, the six-time U. S. Open champ and winner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, Osaka came up with a beauty.
“I love you,” she giggled.
Osaka, playing in her first Grand Slam final, also had a more serious take on her upcoming match against her childhood idol.
“Even when I was a little kid, I always dreamed that I would play Serena in a final of a Grand Slam,” she said, per the Independent .
