Osaka’s clay-court season starts with loss in Madrid; Nadal says he doesn’t miss tennis

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka crashed out of the Madrid Open in the first round on Tuesday with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 defeat by Lucia Bronzetti.

The Japanese former world number one, ranked 55th, battled back with a strong second set after losing the first, but eventually came up short against her determined Italian opponent.

“From the outside maybe it seems easy but when you’re on the court against a great champion like her it’s always difficult — I’m proud with how I managed the match,” said Bronzetti.

“She hit the ball very strong... I tried to make some variation in my game like drop shot, I got a lot of points with that.”

Osaka, who is still finding form after a 15-month break from tennis and last played at the Miami Open in March, secured two break points in the fourth game of the first set which she spurned.

Bronzetti broke in the seventh and served it out, before Osaka responded strongly.

The 27-year-old secured three breaks of serve and conceded one to force a decider.

Osaka immediately conceded a break and despite wrestling back on serve at 3-3 when she took her fifth break point of the game, was broken herself again straight away.

Bronzetti triumphed when Osaka slipped as she tried to reach a cross-court shot.

The Italian will face American world number five Madison Keys in the second round.

“I played against her two times, it’s going to be a real tough match like today,” said Bronzetti.

Emma Raducanu will return to action at Madrid Open after a mid-season break and the former US Open champion said she is benefiting from a more focused approach to the season.

The 22-year-old Briton pulled out of the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers to rest following a run to the quarter-finals in Miami, where she needed medical attention during her defeat by eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula. Having opted for a training block instead, Raducanu is raring to go in the Spanish capital where she kicks off her campaign against Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens on Wednesday.

“I’ve realised now that less is more for me sometimes,” Raducanu told Sky Sports.

“I work really intense and really hard and can definitely be partial to overkilling it sometimes.

“It’s just making sure when I’m on the court I’m maxing out for X amount of time so I can focus, and then once I’m done, I’m switching off better.

“You hear a lot that people need matches and I say the same thing. Matches definitely help, but there’s a time and a place. There are other times where you need to reset and get your bearings, because the season is very long.”

Raducanu’s break involved working with former player Mark Petchey, continuing an informal arrangement after employing a number of coaches with little success amid form and fitness issues.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal insisted on Monday that he doesn’t “miss tennis” after being honoured with a Sporting Icon award at the Laureus World Sport Awards in Madrid.

The 38-year-old Spaniard, winner of 22 Grand Slam trophies, including 14 at Roland Garros, retired from the sport after his final match at the Davis Cup in Malaga in November.

“The truth is that I don’t miss tennis. Zero. I don’t miss it at all,” Nadal told reporters.

“But not because I finished tired of tennis or fighting against tennis, not at all.

“I finished my career happy and if I could have, I would have carried on, because I loved what I was doing.

“It was my passion and that’s been the case all my life. It’s just that when you realise that physically you can’t do it any more... you try to close that chapter. And I closed it.”

Nadal suffered numerous injuries during his career but resisted retiring as long as possible.

“I delayed making my final decision because I needed time to be sure it was the right one.

“What would have been hard was sitting on my sofa wondering if I should keep trying to play.

“When I saw that my body wasn’t going to recover to the level I needed to continue enjoying myself on court, then I made the decision to stop.”

Agencies