Naomi Osaka was less than happy about her performance in the first round of the 2025 Indian Wells Open. She lost to Maria Camila Osorio in straight sets.
Osaka hasn’t played since reaching the third round at the Australian Open this year. She was forced to retire from that match and struggled with an injury since. She finally made her comeback at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells.
As a former champion at the event, the Japanese player was certainly considered to be one of the dark horses in Indian Wells, but her run ended already in the first round.
Her opponent was Maria Camila Osorio, who played a good match. The Colombian player served very well to keep Osaka from any chances. Osorio had two break points already at 1-1 in the opening set, but she couldn’t use those.
Osaka even led 4-3 in the first set of the match, even though that was only because she served first. But after the balls changed for the first time, the Japanese player disappeared from the court. Not literally, only metaphorically.
The four-time Grand Slam champion greatly struggled with unforced errors throughout the match. She helped her opponent also when she led 4-3. From that point, Osaka lost 12 of the next 14 rallies to lose the first set 4-6.
The 2018 champion was then broken at the start of the second set, but she broke back, and the score was tied until 3-3. That was when Osaka had a 30-0 lead on her serve, and later also two game points when leading 40-15.
But her opponent won four points in a row to break and lead 4-3. Osorio had her first match point at 5-3 when her opponent served. She didn’t use that, and when trying to serve out the match, the Colombian had to face a total of four break points.
But Osaka couldn’t make this match more exciting any further. She lost 4-6, 4-6, exiting the 2025 Indian Wells Open already in the first round. It marks her earliest loss at the event in her career.
Speaking during her post-match press conference, the Japanese player didn’t want to be too harsh when assessing her own performance.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think it was too good on my end, but I’m really honestly just happy that they let me play on Stadium 1 again, and it was just really good to get the experience to play another night match.”
However, when she assessed her performance on the social platform Threads, Osaka was much more brutal. She called it the “worst” match of her tennis career.
“Worst match I’ve ever played in my life. Wow, I’m so sorry to everyone who watched that.”
Osaka will now focus on getting ready for the Miami Open. She played in the final in Miami in 2020, losing in straight sets to Iga Swiatek.
