She admits to not being the fearless player of 12 months ago, but Naomi Osaka shouldn’t have too much to worry about in her opening round match against Marie Bouzkova at the Australian Open.
The defending champion and No.3 seed gets things underway on Rod Laver Arena on Monday morning as she eyes off a third major victory in 16 months.
Osaka comes with some runs on the board this Australian summer, her preparation having made the semi-finals of Brisbane in her only lead-up but all four matches going to three sets and featuring opponents ranked in the top 25.
It was a comparable lead-in to 2019 before winning at Melbourne Park, but Osaka says this year’s model is different.
“I was just this young kid that was going out. My goal was to win and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me,” she said, referring to her run 12 months ago.
“I feel like now I appreciate more every single win because I know what it took to get it. Of course, I want to win every match and I want to go out there and do that. That’s what I’m here for.
“But I think maybe last year I was a little bit more fearless.”
It was a mixed bag of results after the Australian Open win for Osaka, which had come off the back of her breakthrough 2018 US Open victory.
She ceded the No.1 ranking to Ashleigh Barty in June, claimed it back for a fortnight in August and won three tournaments for the year to leave the Japanese at No.4 in the world.
Bouzkova shouldn’t present major problems if Osaka performs close to her best but she is a player on the rise having moved from No.260 in the world in 2016 to her current rank of No.59.
The Czech enjoyed three wins over top 10 players in 2019.
While they haven’t met on tour, Osaka suggested that rivalries were unfortunately still largely irrelevant to her at this stage of her career.
“I think having a rival is something that is kind of rare,” she said.
“I haven’t played anyone more than four or five times so I feel like having a rival right now would be a blessing.”
Osaka is the first of the superstars in action on day one.
She’ll be followed onto Rod Laver Arena by Serena Williams against Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova, before Roger Federer rounds out the centre-court day session against American Steve Johnson.
All eyes will be on Ashleigh Barty when Australia’s world No.1 opens the night session against Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.
Novak Djokovic opens his title defence in the feature men’s match on Rod Laver Arena against Jan-Lennard Struff.
Barty is among nine Australians playing on Monday.