Naomi Osaka began her Australian Open title defence with an easy win (Image credit: Getty)
Defending champion Naomi Osaka had no real problems in her first-round clash in the Australian Open but has the country’s bushfire crisis on her mind.
She easily defeated Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-4 and set up a clash against Saisai Zheng in the second round.
Osaka is one of the favourites for the Australian Open after her exploits last season and took part in her post-match press conference.
The champion highlighted how she was pleased seeing her father in her box as he hadn’t been there due to some superstitions.
Australia holds great memories for Osaka but the country has been going through some tough times with the bushfires.
Several Tennis stars participated in a Rally for Relief charity game before the Australian Open and Osaka was asked about her thoughts regarding the tragedy:
“Yeah, I mean, it’s been on my mind a lot especially since I’ve had so many great memories here and it’s probably my favourite place to come back to on the tour.”
Osaka spoke about the charity game played a few days back and joked that she would donate $150 for every unforced error too:
“Of course, everyone did the Rally for the Relief thing and I’ve been wondering what I should do and I was thinking I should donate $150 for every unforced error but I think I would be poor.
“I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
The defending champion might have gotten off to a great start but not everyone was impressed with the result.
One fan had a dig at Osaka and even sent a tweet to the champion. The Japanese star replied to the tweet by questioning how mad the person in question was:
Osaka also spoke about the incident at the conference and wondered why some people are negative on the internet.
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Nevertheless, the champion looked good in this game but tougher clashes are set to follow in the coming rounds.
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