“But for me if I think about my life, my daughter is healthy. Everyone in my family is great,” Osaka said after the loss

NEED TO KNOW

• Naomi Osaka said she’s not sad or disappointed about her loss to Elena Rybakina in the US Open
• “I think I am happy I’m taking losses differently. I’m trying to learn from them a lot more,” Osaka told reporters
• The tennis star added, “But for me if I think about my life, my daughter is healthy. Everyone in my family is great”

Naomi Osaka still feels like a winner.

After a loss to Elena Rybakina in the Round of 16 at the US Open on Monday, Sept. 7, the 28-year-old tennis star said she has a lot to be thankful for and isn’t upset about the defeat.

“I think I am happy I’m taking losses differently,” she told reporters. “I’m trying to learn from them a lot more. Today if I was to say I’m sad, I was sad that I couldn’t push off on my foot. I’m sad I couldn’t do what I set out to do.”

Overall, Osaka said, she feels rich in life.

“But for me if I think about my life, my daughter is healthy. Everyone in my family is great. I had an opportunity to play this Slam. I got as far as I could. It’s only up from here I guess.”

When asked if there were “more surprises” and “looks” she wanted to show at the tournament, like her ode to Allen Iverson on Aug. 31, the athlete said, “I think there’s always something. That’s a way that I can have fun and sort of just excite myself also. But I’m honestly not disappointed now.”

Osaka, who won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, added, “It’s a very strange feeling. And last year I wasn’t that disappointed either,” referring to her semi-final loss to Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 tournament. “Amanda just played really insane,” Osaka said, joking, “Maybe I’m just getting older, but I don’t feel sad.”

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Ahead of this year’s tournament, Osaka opened up about how tennis is just her “side hustle” to being a mom to her 3-year-old daughter Shai. “I think people forget my main job is to be a mom. This [tennis] is kind of like my side hustle a little bit. I just happen to be really good at it,” she told the media on Saturday, Aug. 29.

Osaka welcomed Shai with her ex-boyfriend, rapper Cordae, in July 2023.

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