The spectacular second round showdown between Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka at the 2024 Roland Garros event has quickly become one of the highlights of the tournament. American tennis star Coco Gauff expressed her joy at witnessing both athletes compete at such a high level, especially noting Osaka’s impressive performance following her recent return to the WTA tour.
The Japanese superstar, Naomi Osaka, took a break from tennis to give birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023. Returning at the start of the 2024 season, Osaka gradually regained her form. At Roland Garros, she delivered her best performance of the season, taking the two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek to three sets in a thrilling second-round match.
During a press conference at Roland Garros, Coco Gauff was asked if she watched the thrilling match where Naomi Osaka squandered a match point before narrowly losing to Iga Swiatek in a tight three-set encounter. Gauff responded, “I didn’t get to see it because I was playing at the same time. I did watch a little bit of the first set because that was before my match, but it was very early. It was still good points, but I’m sure nowhere near towards the end of the match.”
“They’re both tough players to play. Especially Iga on clay is very difficult — on any surface, but especially clay. Naomi, I’ve played her — I think I’ve only played her exclusively on hard, I believe. I would say that’s her best surface. I played her when she was defending champion at the Australian Open. I’ve played both of them at strong points in their career,” said Gauff.
“I think it’s very cool to see, especially for Naomi, coming back. I know clay was somewhere — maybe not anymore at the end of this tournament, but it was somewhere in the past that was probably a difficult spot for her. I always root for her, and I think also coming back from motherhood and for her to put up a level like that against Iga is great. It’s good for women’s tennis to see, and good for just women in general to see that you can come back and be at the high level and take the World No. 1 to the brink. Also good on Iga for getting through that match. Naomi is not an easy person to play second round, no matter what form she’s in.”