Naomi Osaka says she wants to concentrate on each game that comes her way than focus more on winning the gold medal in the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games.
Osaka stated this after brushing aside Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic in straight sets to zoom into the Third Round of the event.
On a noticeably cooler day in the Tokyo capital, Osaka put on a determined show, breaking her opponent’s serve once in the first set and twice in the second as she rolled past the world No. 49 6-3, 6-2 at Ariake Tennis Park.
Osaka is now the top-ranked player competing in Tokyo after world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty suffered a shock first-round defeat on Sunday.
But Osaka said she is trying to concentrate on each match as it comes, instead of the gold medal.
“I know that I’m playing against the best players in the world and I haven’t played in a while, so of course I want to win the gold medal like everyone in the tournament does, but I’m taking it one match at a time,” Osaka said.
“Definitely, it would mean a lot for me to win here, but I know it’s a process,” she said. “All in all, I’m just really happy to be here, and I haven’t been in Tokyo” in a while.
Her third-round opponent will be Czech Marketa Vondrousova after she defeated Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-1, 6-2 later on Monday.
source from complete sports
