PARIS — Naomi Osaka still wore the pink accessories in her hair inspired by ''sakura'' — cherry blossoms — and there were streaks on her cheeks where tears had rolled, when she sat down for a French Open news conference after her first-round loss to Paula Badosa on Monday.
Osaka's red eyes welled as she answered a few questions before needing a break and briefly leaving the interview room following the 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 exit against the 10th-seeded Badosa.
''As time goes on, I feel like I should be doing better. But also — I kind of talked about this before, maybe a couple years ago, or maybe recently, I'm not sure — I hate disappointing people,'' said Osaka, who owns four Grand Slam trophies from the hard courts of the U.S. Open and Australian Open but never has been past the third round on the red clay of Roland-Garros.
Then, referring to her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who used to work with Serena Williams, Osaka said: ''He goes from working with, like, the greatest player ever to, like, ‘What the (expletive) is this?' You know what I mean? Sorry for cursing. I hope I don't get fined.''
Osaka, who was born in Japan and moved to the United States as a young child, was undone Monday by 54 unforced errors. That was twice as many as Badosa, whose best showing at a major was a semifinal run at the Australian Open in January and who reached the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros in 2021.
After taking the opening set, Osaka was treated by a trainer for hand blisters and also took time to clip her sakura-themed fingernails on the sideline.
She attributed the blisters, which also bothered her at the Italian Open this month, to ''the friction of clay, because I don't have blisters on any other surface.''
Osaka's powerful serves and groundstrokes are dulled by the clay, and that showed against Badosa. Osaka was broken five times and finished with nearly as many double-faults, five, as aces, seven.
