Osaka’s comeback halted at Indian Wells

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INDIAN WELLS — She took time away, putting down her racquets and picking up baby formula. Going from tennis champion to champion mother and back takes work and time. As Naomi realizes now.

We’re in the California desert, maybe only 150 miles down the interstate from Hollywood. The Academy Awards show was Sunday night.  But this is the real world, the sports world, where comebacks are neither rapid nor easy no matter how good you were.

And Osaka with four Grand Slam titles was damn good! Greater even. But Monday she wasn’t as good as Elise Mertens of Belgium, losing, 7-5, 6-4, in her third-round match of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Although to some — Osaka lists herself as Japanese but was raised in New York and now lives in L.A. — the result was a disappointment but might not have been that big a surprise. Mertens also has won four Slams, and although they’ve been in doubles she’s a very accomplished singles player who, while Osaka has been raising her baby, was lifting awards.

Mertens next will play Aryna Sabalenka, the Wimbledon champion who Monday outlasted Emma Raducanu, 6-3, 7-3.  

Osaka, 26, went through numerous emotional problems not long ago, refusing to talk to the media after one match, and then withdrawing moments before another match. Newspapers and television networks responded with stories about mental health.

Then in January 2023, Osaka announced she was expecting—the father is her boyfriend, rapper Cordae (Amri Duston). The baby was born in July. Osaka’s first match after her return was on Jan. 1, 2024, in New Zealand, in preparation for the Australian Open.

That Osaka would come to the BNP and Indian Wells was expected. She had a bye then a victory. Now a loss.

“I had a plan today,” said Osaka. “And I didn’t really execute.”

Sounds like an NFL quarterback, not a world-class tennis player. Of course, maybe it was because the other team (Mertens) wouldn’t allow her to execute. Mertens, 38, has been there, done that in doubles or singles.

Then the admission. “I haven’t played in a while,” conceded Osaka, “so it was kind of surprising, her game.” A little bit that’s a Hollywood lie if ever there was one.