Roland-Garros 2025 - Naomi Osaka : "Anti-doping tests... they scare me"

Tennis Actu TV

25/05/2025

Naomi Osaka before starting his Roland-Garros and his first round.

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00:00BNP Paribas, partenaire des plus belles histoires de Roland Garros, aux côtés des ramasseurs de balles depuis plus de 50 ans.

00:30What are the things you maybe find challenging or enjoyable about it?

00:36I don't know if I'd be able to answer you specifically about movement on clay.

00:42I do think my movement overall has gotten better, so I can only answer you on that.

00:47But yeah, on clay, I think I'm enjoying sliding a lot.

00:52I've played quite a few or I've played a lot of players that drop shotted me.

00:58So just sliding to those has been kind of fun, frustrating, but fun.

01:05And yeah, just overall transitioning on using power to be fast on the surface.

01:13It's been a really good learning experience.

01:16Okay, I'll go to Ben and then to Marnie instead. Ben?

01:19Hi, Naomi.

01:20I just wanted to ask about your decision to scale down and play the WTA-125 in France that you played.

01:25How easy was that as a decision to make to drop down a level?

01:28And then how did it feel once you were there?

01:31And is it something you maybe wish you'd done even sooner in this comeback to get matches?

01:37Yeah, I mean, it was something that I didn't decide to do right away.

01:41Honestly, it was Patrick that kind of told me that he thinks it, which he was right.

01:47Like, it would be a better use of time to even practice playing the matches there.

01:53So, yeah, I mean, I am glad that I went.

01:57I was able to explore the city, which was really beautiful.

02:00I think the decision itself was kind of difficult because in your mind you do have a little bit of pride.

02:10But I don't know.

02:13I was glad that I went.

02:14And I think that everyone that, I guess every opponent that plays me is definitely going to play really well.

02:21And, yeah, glad I went.

02:26It was a hard decision.

02:28And I'm happy with the outcome, though.

02:31If the decision was hard, did it feel like a lot of pressure in those matches to not lose?

02:37I would say, yes, there was a lot of pressure.

02:40I wouldn't really say it was to not lose.

02:43But it was more like I had in the back of my head, like, I wonder what people would say about me if I lost here.

02:53Granted, I should never be thinking about that when I'm playing a tennis match.

02:57But, yeah, but I got over it, like, during the semis.

03:04I saw your post today about a 5 a.m. wake-up call.

03:13I'm curious, could you just, like, explain what it's like to have a 5 a.m. anti-doping wake-up call?

03:17And also I've heard from some players that, like, they find themselves in quite weird positions with anti-doping,

03:23where, like, when they can't produce a sample, they've got someone, like, chilling with them on the couch while they're waiting.

03:29Have you had any kind of weird experiences like that?

03:31So, um, I honestly don't know the rules about talking about anti-doping.

03:38Am I allowed to say whatever?

03:40Yeah.

03:41Oh, okay.

03:42Oh, I don't know.

03:43They're kind of scary.

03:45Um, yeah, I mean, for me, anti-doping is, like, I don't have a great relationship with them,

03:53just because, um, they always come and take blood and urine, which I don't know if that disgusts people to say,

04:01but whatever, um, and my veins are, like, very notorious, notoriously hard to find,

04:07and one person once told me it was, like, a Japanese thing.

04:11I don't know if that's accurate, but, yeah, so they come at 5 a.m., and then they'll stick me multiple times,

04:18um, and usually they can't find my veins, so they have a three, three attempts to find it.

04:25Sometimes they can't find it, and they're like, oh, sorry, let me try this arm, let me try this arm, let me try this arm.

04:31And I always have to tell them, like, hey, like, my playing arm is my right arm.

04:36I prefer the left, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

04:38Um, and today was kind of scary, because the last, last year I was here, they also came at 5 a.m.,

04:46and the lady couldn't find my veins at all, um, and I had, like, huge bruises on my arms for a while,

04:52so thankfully it wasn't the same lady, no shade to her, um, but, yeah, uh, today was a success,

05:00because, um, luckily I had to use the bathroom when they woke me up, so.

05:04Okay, Naomi, you posted your shoes on Instagram, and the girlies did, in fact, love it.

05:13Um, can you tell me about the inspiration behind the shoes and the rest of the kit?

05:17Yeah, um, so the shoes are Sakura-themed, um, which is really, I guess, just in time for spring,

05:25which is Sakura season, and it follows the flower story that, um, we have throughout the year,

05:31and, um, I'm really excited about the kit, because, uh, I designed it, so I'm really,

05:39I don't know why Nike's letting me do this stuff, I say this every slam, um, but I think it's really

05:45adorable, and I'm just excited, and I don't know if you can see from all the way over here,

05:49but, uh, I, like, did my nails, and they're Sakura-themed, too, so I'm really sticking to

05:55the flower story that we have.

06:01Hi, Naomi.

06:02How, uh, common is it to go on court, uh, and have to try to play through an injury or pain

06:12or something you're dealing with, and, uh, what, what sorts of internal or external pressures

06:19are there to do that and get out there, even if you don't feel 100 percent?

06:26Um, I mean, I think it depends on the level of injury or where your head's at.

06:31I think for me, I've, can rarely count the number of times that I felt perfect on the court, um,

06:41but I do know I'm the type of person that if I'm injured, I can almost play, like, better,

06:49not physically better, but mentally, I'll know that, hey, this, like, something's bothering me,

06:55so I have to give it, like, all my energy into, like, this single point, like, time and time again,

07:01so actually, I've won, when I say, like, two of my slams when I was injured, um, just because I,

07:10I knew that I had to lock in every match, um, yeah, I, I think it really depends on the person.

07:17Do you have another one?

07:19Hold on.

07:20Um, if I could follow up on that, uh, is there, though, a sense at all sometimes of,

07:29I don't want to go out there, but I have to?

07:36Um, for me, not recently.

07:38Like, back in the old days, yeah, probably, um, but now, no, I think I'm enjoying the time more.

07:50I'm enjoying seeing the newer players coming up, and I, I don't know, it feels like the circle of life

07:57a little bit, and I think for me, I know that I came back and I'm choosing to spend this time away

08:04from my daughter in order to attempt to achieve things, so I have to make the most out of that time,

08:09and, um, coming here or playing any tournaments without a positive mentality would just be pointless.

08:18Okay, we'll do one more in English.

08:21Anyone?

08:22Oh, up the back, yeah.

08:25Yeah, sorry, sorry.

08:25I'm tired now.

08:27Um, Naomi, when you said that you were waking up at 5am, was that, is that the time you give

08:32for your whereabouts time, or is that totally random?

08:35So what had happened was...

08:37I guess that's pretty crazy.

08:38Um, yeah, no, it, it's always between 5 and 6, but I think for me, there was, when I was younger,

08:47there was a couple times I missed, um, my time slot, because I would go to practice, um,

08:52and then they would call, and I would try to, like, turn back around and go to the hotel,

08:57so I always knew that 5 and 6, there's no way I'm practicing or driving to this site,

09:03because I do practice quite early, sometimes I practice at 8 or 9.

09:08Um, but 5 and 6 is, like, a safe spot, but I, I'm always shocked when they come, like,

09:16the day before the slam.

09:18It's, like, a little startling for me, but I should, I should expect it at this point.

09:24I didn't realize you could say a time before 6, I thought 6 was the earliest, so 5, obviously,

09:29is the earliest.

09:30Maybe, maybe there's someone that chooses 3, I don't know, but, um, typically, yeah,

09:36I think we have the whole 24 hours, right?

09:39Oh, it starts at 5, so.

09:43All right, thank you, we'll switch to national language, just raise your hand.

09:47If you would like, Aki, just put your hand up, so they can see you.

09:50Yeah.

09:56先ほど、チャレンジャー125、125に出たのはパトリックのおすすめだって言ってましたけれども、

10:03What was the impact of Patrick, Clay, when he was playing in the court, was the biggest impact?

10:14What was the biggest impact of the game when he was winning?

10:17What was the biggest impact of the game when he was winning?

10:21What was the biggest impact of the game when he was winning?

10:23Yeah, I think very transparent when I won that tournament, my immediate thought was,

10:33like, I knew how much work it took to get here. It wasn't just, you know, overnight. I would say it was like an accumulation of last year, and then obviously this year, too. But I think my immediate thought was like this feeling of happiness is like 0.1% of the happiness I had when I had my daughter.

10:59So, you know, like, it's very hard to describe just because I know there was some dialogue on that. And, you know, maybe like, I'll try again to compare it when I like win a bigger tournament.

11:12But, yeah, I just immediately thought about my daughter and how happy she'll be to, like, play with the trophy because she likes to play with all the trophies.

11:24And, yeah, Patrick's way of, I guess, teaching me on the clay court. I think we've gotten a lot better at defense. I think my defense has gotten better in my movement. But I talked to him after my last match against Stearns. I think I could have been a lot more aggressive. So we're going to try something different this tournament.

11:50Yeah, I think, you know, I was supposed to play her in Rome, but she was injured, so I didn't get to play.

12:20But I was really looking forward to it because I know she's a good player. And it's kind of crazy that we've both been on tour, but we haven't played each other yet.

12:30And I know that she's supposed to be a good clay court player also. So, I don't know. For me, slams are the best tournaments. There's only four of them. And I feel like that's where everyone plays the best.

12:44And that's where everyone kind of feels all the energy. So, it's going to be really exciting. Of course, I think I'm going to be nervous because it is a first round.

12:55And I'm always nervous in the first round. But hopefully, they'll put us on a really good court.