Naomi Osaka is halfway towards a clean sweep of the sport’s four Grand Slam titles, but admits she needs to change her mental approach if she is to succeed at the French Open and Wimbledon this summer.
Osaka, 21, won her second successive Grand Slam title when she beat Petra Kvitova 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 to win the Australian Open on Saturday.
However, she has won only two other titles in her career — Indian Wells and the US Open last year — and has yet to excel on either clay or grass.
“I’ve always felt like I could maybe be an all-court player,” Osaka insisted.
“The first time I played all the Grand Slams I got to the third round in all of them, so it’s not like I had one disappointing Grand Slam.
“I think mentally I don’t like clay. I never really embraced anything about it and I think that’s something I have to change.
"The same goes for grass courts. I see people slide and slip on grass and it’s a little bit frightening for me. I just think I have to change my mentality.”
Osaka has played at Wimbledon twice and gone out in the third round on both occasions.
She lost to Venus Williams, a five-times champion at the All England Club, two years ago and then took only six games off Angelique Kerber, the eventual champion, last summer.
In Pictures | Australian Open Tennis 2019
However, until she won the US Open, Osaka had felt that last summer’s Wimbledon tournament represented her best opportunity to win her first Grand Slam title.
“I thought I would possibly have a chance at Wimbledon, but then Kerber destroyed me,” she said.
Winning the title in Melbourne saw Osaka rise to the top of the world rankings for the first time on Monday. She insisted, however, that winning Grand Slam titles was what motivated her most.
“Ranking has never been my No1 priority,” she said. “As a kid, Grand Slams were always more important to me than being No1.”
