After a wait of three years, Naomi Osaka has finally made her return to a WTA 1000 final. Her Canadian Open semi-final was late, and the crowd had thinned down. But the four-time Grand Slam winner’s comeback was evident in her win over Clara Tauson of Denmark. She got to her opponent early, sweeping the first set 6-2 with her simple moves. While Tauson made some recovery in the second set, backed by Osaka’s slips, today was not her day. 

Osaka was on the cusp of a 5-2 second-set-decider win. But she made some errors on game points. Then, on her opponent’s wonky serve, Tauson found her way back into a tiebreaker. But then Tauson returned into the net on Osaka’s serve to give her a 7-6 win. Without even looking, Osaka closed her eyes, clutched her fist, and smiled, knowing what that thud sound of the ball hitting the net meant. The tired and sleepy crowd, too, stood, roared, and clapped. However, the difference in support was more than visible between her and her finals opponent, Victoria Mboko.

The fans filled Court Central as the 18-year-old phenom took down Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) earlier. They chanted “Vicky! Vicky!” as some flashed their “Allez Vicky” cards. The loudest support came after she fell on her right wrist early in the decider and needed to take a medical break in between. According to Mboko herself, “I had everyone supporting me and pushing me.” Seeing how the Canadian returned into the game, feeding off of the home crowd’s energy, Osaka knows the matchup is not easy. And so, she has a special request from the crowd before the final.

In her on-court interview after the match, she showed her full gratitude to the present crowd that cheered her on. But then the reporter from Edimator asked her, “What kind of match do you think you’ll be facing tomorrow?” After taking a few seconds to compose her response, Osaka replied, “I mean, she’s Canadian. I heard the applause from inside there. So, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be super lively. But I really appreciate that because it means you guys are invested in the match. But I hope some, like one or two people, cheer for me too, hopefully.”

We’ve already seen plenty of support for this youngster in this tournament. As soon as she secured the match point, we saw Mboko dropping down to the court with the crowd chanting, “Allez Vicky” to celebrate for her. She saved a match point in the third set and broke Rybakina twice to force the tiebreaker, showing insane resilience and recovery.

As the two meet on Thursday for a final showdown, the atmosphere is going to be electrifying inside the stadium. On one side, there is someone who is a proven campaigner on a return. On the other side, the young phenom has a lot to prove to the tennis world. And as revealed in her post-match interview, Osaka is Mboko’s idol. Adding to the emotional toll is Mboko creating history for her country at home after the support she gained in her semifinal.

Elena Ryabkina, too, shared her thoughts about the atmosphere in her match against the local favorite. In this SF clash, the crowd even cheered for Rybakina’s mistakes. Reacting to it all, in her post-match interview, the Kazakhstani added, “Yeah, that wasn’t nice, of course. I played in a lot of situations where the crowd was supporting the player, but I would say that here it was pretty tough from the very beginning.“

At the same time, the Japanese superstar has now managed to draw the attention of several tennis bigwigs with her impressive performance in this tournament.

Naomi Osaka’s ex-coach shares his thoughts on her incredible performance in Montreal

Ranked 49th in the world, Naomi Osaka has a win-loss record of 21-11 this season. But with her impressive performances at the Canadian Open, she has now gone up to the 24th spot in the WTA Live Rankings. As a result, she has now almost secured her chances of being seeded in the upcoming US Open. Speaking on this after her match against Svitolina, she said, “I think I’m going to be seeded in the US Open now because I won my match. So, umm…that was a really big goal for me.“

Now, with her impressive win over Tauson, Naomi Osaka has reached her first WTA 1000 final since 2022. While it may be because of the coaching switch, the former coach is happy for her. Just over a week ago, before the start of the Canadian Open, she parted ways with her previous coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

On Tuesday, the Frenchman gave an interview to CNN Sports, where he said, “She’s doing well for the moment in Montreal. Let’s hope she’s going to go all the way. I think her level of tennis is here. Physically, she is ready, and she’s a great competitor, she’s a great champion. So at some point, it’s going to work out. I have no doubt about it.“

Seeing her brilliance in Montreal, Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Rick Macci, even drew a comparison with another tennis legend, Roger Federer. He tweeted, “Osaka is competing better and ripping the forehand like Federer. She has more belief, and that triggers a big relief. With the long overdue coaching change, she has found that explosive Naomi range. She is fighting till the end and is heading towards the top ten.“

Talking about the secret to her recent success, Naomi Osaka claimed that she’s winning because she’s happier. Can Osaka increase her happiness further with a title triumph at the Canadian Open, or will the crowd support their native star?