Osaka revitalised for clay challenge

MADRID • Naomi Osaka has revealed she took a much-needed break from tennis before this week's Madrid Open, where the world No. 2 will be hoping to kick-start her career on clay.

The Japanese has never won a WTA tournament on the red dirt, and she has never made it past the third round at the French Open, which starts next month.

The four-time Grand Slam champion will be the second seed here and she is feeling refreshed, after almost a month off following her quarter-final exit at Miami.

Her defeat by Greece's Maria Sakkari broke a 23-match winning streak and came after she won the Australian Open in February to add to her triumph at the US Open last year.

"After Miami, I took a bit of a break because I felt like I needed to slow my mind down a little bit," Osaka said on Wednesday.

"I felt like I needed it because after Australia, I had like one day of rest then I immediately started working. It wasn't tennis, but other stuff.

"For me, I just felt like the hard-court swing, the Australian hard-court swing, plus Miami, was kind of compressed for me.

"I didn't really have time to see my family because I haven't seen them since Christmas. I wanted to spend time with them and chill."

Despite her success on hard courts, with two Majors each at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne Park, Osaka has yet to find her best either on grass or clay.

She will be hoping to gain confidence and rhythm in Madrid, starting with today's first-round match against compatriot Misaki Doi.

"It's exciting to go into the clay-court swing because I haven't won a tournament on clay yet," the 23-year-old added. "Even though that does make me a bit excited, it also gives me a bit of stress because I really want to do well here.

"I do better when I don't stress myself out... But it's really hard to fight that feeling when you really want something."

In yesterday's other first-round matches, Australian world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty blazed past American Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-1.

Two-time Slam champion Petra Kvitova progressed to a clash with German Angelique Kerber after fellow Czech Marie Bouzkova retired due to an injury while trailing 2-6, 3-2.

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