Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka Get Test of Mettle in U.S. Open Final

Fissette said the masks have been “a great motivation” for Osaka. “It’s for sure something that gives her extra energy,” he said. “It’s not that she needed that, but still it always helps.”

Osaka amplified her voice on social issues significantly during the Western Southern Open, when she joined players in the N.B.A., W.N.B.A., Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer last month who did not play games in protest of racial injustice by saying she would not play in her semifinal. The tournament was delayed a day in hopes Osaka would play, and Osaka agreed.

Fissette said that circumstance created “the biggest pressure on her that I’ve seen.”

“She won the match, it was a great performance from her mentally,” he added. “But on the other hand, you also know that if you’re under huge pressure mentally, the chances of getting injured are pretty high, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Azarenka, who is unseeded here and last won a Grand Slam title at the 2013 Australian Open, said her biggest change from then to now has been her ego.

She said after beating Serena Williams in the semifinal that the biggest difference between herself now and seven years ago is in her ego.

“When you’re coming up from kind of nothing, then you become a No. 1 player in the world, sometimes you can start to think you’re invincible and that you’re better than everybody, and it’s not true,” Azarenka said. “So the ego starts to grow. It’s very hurtful when it gets damaged.”

Azarenka reached the final with an impressive comeback over Williams, after being dominated in the first set and knowing that she was previously winless against Williams at Grand Slam tournaments.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/12/sports/naomi-osaka-and-victoria-azarenka-get-test-of-mettle-in-us-open-final.html