In the Women’s draw of the Australian Open, the defending champion at the Australian Open was knocked out in the Round 3 of the tournament.
Osaka who on Friday was stunned by Amanda Anisimova at the Rod Laver arena as Anisimova won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
The japanese champion comes third in surprising exits from this year’s Australian Open after the likes of Emma Raducanu, who was knocked out in the second round and Nick Kyrgios who lost to Medvedev earlier this week in Round 2.
“I fought for every point; I can’t be sad about that,” Osaka said. “You know, like, I’m not God. I can’t win every match, you know. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s, like, really special.”
While Anisimova said,“I think it was the hardest in the first set to be honest; I was just trying to step up my game, and I think that’s why my nerves were kicking in a little bit,” Anisimova said in an interview with The New York Times. “Because I knew that I had to really dig deep and just try to be more aggressive to give myself a chance to win today. But in the third set, I was not really nervous at all anymore.
“I love playing in these high-pressure moments, and I think it’s really fun to play in Melbourne in front of a crowd like that. So I was just trying to enjoy every moment really. I kept reminding myself, ‘I’m at a Grand Slam playing against Naomi Osaka, just try to enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon.”