Studious Naomi Osaka picking up Nadal tips and praise for superhero Iga Swiatek – WTA Tour Diary

Naomi the student It’s no secret that Naomi Osaka’s results on hard courts are superior to her results on other surfaces but the former world No.1 has a plan to up her game on clay this campaign and it involves a secret tip she picked up from none other than the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal. Ad/> In the build-up to this week’s Madrid Open, Osaka spent some time training on the red dirt in Mallorca and is keen to debut some new parts of her game when she kicks off her clay-court season in the Spanish capital.

WTA MadridSwiatek withdraws from Madrid due to shoulder injury8 HOURS AGO In Miami earlier this month, Osaka said she will be watching “a lot of Nadal videos to see how he moves” on clay, and it seems the Japanese star is ready to showcase some new tricks after doing her homework and closely studying the 13-time Roland Garros champion. /> “I changed a couple of things, I think you guys will be able to tell when I play, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

I would say I did change a couple of things to suit myself more for clay,” Osaka said on Wednesday. “Yes, I think I stole one of the things that he did and I’ve been practicing it recently,” she added, referring to Nadal.

“It’ll either go really good or really bad. There’s like no in between.

But I think as I’ve been doing it, it’s been going pretty well.” Osaka, a four-time major winner, considers herself a student of the game and says she plans on utilising her time at tournaments by following player practices. “Honestly I’ve been wanting to watch the really good clay-court players practice because I feel like I’m the type of person that learns really fast if I see it up close and honestly it’s a bit of a waste to have all these really good professional tennis