Osaka kicked off the season by cementing her place at the top of the tennis world with a victory at the Australian Open, claiming her second Grand Slam title and rising to World No.1. But it would be another eight months before she would return to a final after failing to defend her titles in Indian Wells and the US Open, and falling in the first round of Wimbledon. 

“I feel like the year was like a U,” Osaka explained. “Australian Open, amazing. Europe was the bottom part of the U. Not the country, just my season there. Then Asia was the other half of the U.”

Indeed, Osaka bounced back in a strong way as the tour turned to Asia. She didn’t drop a set at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, lifting the trophy in her birth city of Osaka, and then kept the momentum going at the China Open in Beijing, where she claimed her second WTA Premier Mandatory crown. 

“Surprisingly I think this year is better than last year, even though I cried way more this year than I did last year,” she admitted. 

“I also think that’s a lesson that I learned. It’s just like you have the opportunity to, like, change the things that are happening to you, even though it might not seem like it at the moment.” 

The turnaround, according to Osaka, was a tough talk that she had with herself and her team following her US Open defeat to Belinda Bencic. It was the third consecutive time she’d lost to the Swiss player, ending her first Grand Slam title defense and losing her WTA No.1 ranking.