‘I'm not God, I can't win every match!’ – Naomi Osaka ‘really happy’ despite defeat at Australian Open

Naomi Osaka told reporters that she is «not God» and can’t be expected to win every match after she lost 4-6 6-3 7-6[5] to Amanda Anisimova in the third round of the Australian Open. Prior to the tournament Osaka had said that she intended to focus more on the enjoyment of playing rather than scrutinising and obsessing over on-court success. Ad/> And in her post-match press conference, the two-time Australian Open winner was asked whether she could draw positives from her performance on Margaret Court Arena.

Australian OpenAnisimova ends Osaka title defence in third-round thriller2 HOURS AGO “Yeah, [I can take fun from the match] definitely. I think I fought for every point,” said the defending champion. “I can't be sad about that.

You know, like I'm not God. I can't win every match. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that's really special and I can't think of myself to try to win the Grand Slam at the start of the year every time.” Osaka was visibly frustrated during her 5-7 7-6 (2) 6-4 loss to Canada's Leylah Fernandez at the US Open back in September, after which she announced she would be taking a break from tennis.

But the 24-year-old added that she had a completely different attitude at the first Grand Slam of the year. “For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude, so I'm really happy with — of course I lost — but I'm happy with how it went.” Anisimova, who had picked up wins against Arianne Hartono and Belinda Bencic previously, will now face world No.