I want to meet Obama: Naomi Osaka

Defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka is known for her frank responses and deadpan humour when it comes to press conferences. And the Japanese player delighted the press with a couple of great responses when she spoke to them in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open.

Osaka, who recently said she met pop superstar Beyonce last year, was asked which famous person she would like to meet next and she responded, “I want to meet (Barack) Obama. Does he count as a famous person, though? I feel like that's disrespect”.

Osaka was also asked about one of her biggest rivals for the Australian Open title - World No. 1 and local favourite Ash Barty - and whether she was monitoring the French Open champion's form. Osaka responded, “What was the question? Sorry.

I've been just stuck on this 'monitoring' thing, like do I have screens of her matches or something? I don't know, yeah." Osaka begins her campaign in Australia on Monday against Marie Bouzkova. She won the Australian Open title last year, beating Petra Kvitova in the final in a tight three setter.

She also won the US Open in 2018 with a win over Serena Williams in the final in straight sets. After struggling with form since the Australian Open, Osaka rediscovered her form towards the end of the year. She won 2 tournaments in a row and was on a 14 match winning streak which ended earlier this month with a loss to Karolina Pliskova in the semi-finals in Brisbane.

Agencies

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