Athletes need an elite level of concentration to compete to the best of their ability of the highest level.
This is what Naomi Osaka displayed when she came from as set down to win her opening match at the 2025 Miami Open.
The 27-year-old rebounded from a disappointing Indian Wells campaign to go from two games from defeat to emerging victorious in three sets.
Naomi Osaka was so focused on ensuring she did not suffer back-to-back losses that she forgot a key moment of the second set that started her comeback.
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Osaka started her opening Miami Open match against Yuliia Starodubtseva trailing 0-5, before finding herself behind 3-6, 2-4.
But Osaka was able to win four straight games to level the match, before claiming the deciding set and winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 28 minutes.
She was so focused during the match that the four-time Grand Slam champion said she needed her coach Patrick Mouratoglou to remind her of the moment in which she began to turn the match round.
“When I reach maximum concentration, I completely forget what’s happening in the match; I’m in a bubble,” Osaka told reporters.
“My coach told me that I saved a break point when I was 2-5 down in the second set, and I had no idea. I try to play each point as if it’s the most important of the match when I’m in that state.”
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One of the biggest talking points of 2024 was Osaka choosing to hire Mouratoglou as her coach.
So far, Osaka’s best results together were a run to the round of 16 at the 2024 China Open, and a trip to the ASB Classic final in January.
The pair are continuing to get to know each other and Osaka is happy with their current dynamic, which they worked hard on since they joined forces.
“He’s a really good coach and a really interesting guy,” the former World number one added.
“I’m quite introverted so it’s really hard to get me to talk and that was a little hard for him in the beginning. But now the dynamic is a lot better and I hope we can get a lot more matches in.”
