Biggest shock at the Olympics: Naomi Osaka eliminated

As for this year's Olympic Games and tennis competitions, the first favorites were certainly the
best tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, and the best tennis player in the world,
Ashleigh Barty. Djokovic is playing very well now, as he has been throughout the season, and it
will be a real surprise if he does not win a gold medal. Barty, on the other hand, was shockingly
eliminated in the first round of the Olympic tournament, which then probably delighted all
Japanese fans who hoped that home player Naomi Osaka could win a gold medal at home.
However, that did not happen. After the defeat of the Americans in basketball against France,
this is probably the most shocking moment at these Olympic Games.

Osaka played a terrible match against the Czech Vondrousova and was defeated in just over an
hour of the game with the result 2:0 in sets 6:4, 6:1 in the match of the third round of the
Olympic tournament. It was raining in Tokyo so tennis matches had to be played under the roof.
This contributed to the conditions on the court being somewhat slower, and those conditions
were obviously more suitable for the Czech tennis player. However, that is not an excuse for the
very bad game of the Japanese woman who, after Barty's early elimination, certainly aspired to
win gold. Osaka made as many as 32 unforced errors. In addition, she achieved 22 winners, and
the Czech had the same number of points directly won. However, what was important was that
Vondrousova made a lot fewer mistakes, so the forty-second tennis player in the world
deservedly celebrated in this match.

The first set passed very quickly, and it seemed that Osaka was coming to its senses after the
break at the start of the second set. However, Vondrousova returns the break to save two tied
break balls in the seventh game. The pressure on Osaka grew, which could be seen by the
number of mistakes of the Japanese tennis player. Osaka saved two match points with the result
5:4 in the second set. Then she missed two chances to win the game. Vondrousova waited for her
mistakes again and Osaka was shockingly defeated in the end, although everyone hoped that she
could reach the gold medal. She was certainly one of the main trump cards for Japan to win
medals at these Olympic Games, but it is obvious that the Japanese woman was not adequately
prepared for that achievement.
This is the first time that Osaka has been defeated on a hard surface before the quarterfinals since
the Australian Open last year, and this is her first tournament in which she participated after she
decided to take a break for a few months due to problems with depression and anxiety. The
audience was not in the stands, so there was no such pressure on the Japanese tennis player.
Osaka missed the previous two grand slams, that is, she withdrew from the tournament in Paris
while she did not even participate in Wimbledon. Whether the problems she struggled with the
previous ones may be the cause of this defeat is a big question. It is possible that Osaka did not
manage to cope with the great role of the favorite and the great expectations of the Japanese
public that she would win the gold medal. It remains to be seen how this defeat will affect Osaka
later this season.