Naomi Osaka's Cincinnati appearance is no longer in jeopardy after the four-time Grand Slam champion found her missing luggage with the help of United Airlines.
On Friday, former world No. 1 Osaka took to X to reveal the issue she was dealing with - her bags went missing during a flight and since her rackets were in those bags, she needed them to quickly be located or otherwise she wouldn't be able to play at the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati next week.
"lol @united lost my bags and if I don’t get them tonight or tomorrow I literally can’t play Cincinnati," Osaka wrote on X on Friday.
The flight company noticed Osaka's post and responded: "Hi, Naomi. We're sorry to hear this. We'd like to look into this and assist further. When you have a moment, please DM your bag tag number."
Hi, Naomi. We're sorry to hear this. We'd like to look into this and assist further. When you have a moment, please DM your bag tag number. ^NB https://t.co/Y6hG6u3i8R
— United Airlines (@united) August 9, 2024
After encouraging Osaka to reach out directly to them, the Japanese tennis star's issue was resolved.
"update : I received my bags," Osaka announced on Saturday.
update : I received my bags 🙏🏾
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 10, 2024
The Cincinnati organizers helped Osaka get into the main draw
Since Osaka is currently ranked at No. 95 in the world, she wasn't close to making the Cincinnati main draw directly. But last week, the Cincinnati organizers came through for the 26-year-old Japanese after they announced her as a main draw wildcard recipient.
And by handing out Osaka a wildcard, the Japanese ensured she would make her fifth main draw appearance in Cincinnati. In the past, Osaka played in Cincinnati for the first time in 2016 when she failed to earn a main draw spot through the qualifying event after losing to Daria Saville in the qualifying final round.
Two years later, there was no need for Osaka to play in the qualifying event as she was a WTA 1000 champion when she made her Cincinnati debut in 2018. Unfortunately for the Japanese, it wasn't an impressive main draw debut after she lost to Maria Sakkari in the first round.
Since then, Osaka has made four more appearances at the Cincinnati event - and her best result at the tournament came in 2020 - when she made the final before giving Victoria Azarenka a walkover due to a hamstring injury. It should be noted that that year the Cincinnati tournament didn't take place in Cincinnati but in New York due to the pandemic.
In her last Cincinnati appearance - which came in 2022 before her pregnancy - Osaka was beaten by Shuai Zhang in the first round.
How Osaka did in Toronto this week and what are her goals?
Earlier this week, Osaka made a lightning start to her Toronto run after destroying three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur 6-3 6-1 in the Toronto first round. Following that performance, some were left convinced that this was the tournament where the former world No. 1 could have her best run since launching her post-pregnancy comeback. But then, the 26-year-old Japanese got stunned by Elise Mertens 3-6 4-6 in the second round.
"I think, honestly, I feel I could have put a little bit of, a little bit more into the groundstrokes. I think I got a little bit caught up in being consistent and being, I guess, in the rallies. I think, I don't know, it's tough because playing against her, you don't necessarily hit winners right away, you have to open up the court, and I feel like I kind of got into the rhythm of potentially not hitting winners and, yeah, I maybe started playing her game a bit more, but not too mad at it, actually," Osaka said in her presser after losing to Mertens.
For Osaka, the goal is clear - that's to return to her Grand Slam-winning form and again be a top-10 player. While it hasn't happened so far this year, the four-time Grand Slam champion remains hopeful at some point she will rediscover her old game.
"Yeah, I mean, you know what, shoot for the stars, yeah (laughing). I, unfortunately, have always suffered from, like, perfectionism and I doubt myself a lot, but I think going through this process and having really tough losses that I've learned a lot about myself and I learned that I really love this game and am willing to do whatever it takes to get to where I feel like I deserve to be. I know there's going to be a lot more tough losses, but hopefully, yeah, hopefully I'll be back in the top 10," Osaka explained.
It remains to be seen if Osaka can make a strong Cincinnati run and make some noise ahead of the US Open, where she is a two-time champion.
