Her first two tournaments since being ranked No. 1 ended in losses, but the young star is getting more comfortable in the spotlight.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Deservedly No. 1 in the world at age 21, Naomi Osaka has not made it past the round of 16 in her first two tournaments wearing the crown.
After stumbling at the first hurdle in Dubai last month, she won two matches here in Indian Wells before running into Belinda Bencic.
Though it is too early to start scurrying around the halls and sounding the alarms, it is not too early to observe that Osaka is in the midst of an adjustment process that could take more time to work through than she imagined.
In a little more than six months, the Japanese-American with Haitian roots has become a multicultural star with global reach, fired the coach who helped her zoom to No. 1 by winning two Grand Slam singles titles in a row, and hired a new coach who had yet to be a head coach at this level.
It is a lot to handle, a lot to digest, particularly with people like me poised to parse every performance for signs of trouble.
Bencic gave her plenty to digest, beating Osaka at her own game on Tuesday by taking time and the initiative away as she ended Osaka’s title defense in just 66 minutes in the round of 16 by the no-argument score of 6-3,6-1.
“Naomi was rushed and didn’t have time to dictate,” said Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion. “I don’t think Naomi had come across a player like that. All these big hitters like Aryna Sabalenka, and even Serena, are not that close to the baseline. They are two or three feet back. But Bencic plays an entirely different game, and she played a flawless match. She’s back, very back.”
The proof is in her 11-match winning streak, which includes a title in Dubai and five victories over top-10 players. Born in 1997, the same year as Osaka, Bencic has the skills to challenge her often in the seasons to come if she can keep her head and health together. Bencic will play fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
“I think at a time like this with that score line, I would usually feel very depressed and sad,” Osaka said at her surprisingly upbeat post-match news conference. “But I feel pretty good right now, because I think given the circumstances I tried my best, and I don’t really have any regrets. I tried to be positive throughout the entire match.
