Rejuvenated Naomi Osaka slays Coco Gauff at US Open with help from new coach

And while the performance and the victory — a first for the Japanese over a top-3 player since September 2019 — may bookend her return back to the top levels of the sport, the journey really sprouted its legs at the start of last year.

Answering some questions

In the summer of 2021, Osaka fell from the top of the tennis mountain with remarkable speed. She had won her fourth Major and completed 25 weeks at World No. 1 before frailties had begun to creep in. Later, she would be more open in admitting the mental vulnerabilities she felt in the lockdown period, and how the pressure of the spotlight played on her mind. Once she fell off her perch, she tumbled way outside the rankings. The results betrayed her and later she went into an extended break from the sport, spending 16 months away for pregnancy and the birth of her first child, her daughter Shai.

So by the time she returned to tennis at the start of 2024, reasonable questions may have been asked of whether she has still got it. There were expectations from some corners that she may never return at all. Despite changing remarkably little and sticking to her first-strike attacking style, she showed glimpses of her best: even holding match points against Iga Swiatek in her least favourite surface in the second round of the 2024 French Open, before the Pole escaped and went on to win the title.

Showing clearly that she was refreshed and in the right mental frame of mind, Osaka was a threat, but needed her physical fitness and consistent results to coincide. The catalyst of that would be a coaching change earlier this summer, linking up with Swiatek’s former coach, Poland’s Tomasz Wiktorowski, who has revitalised her game by making her stick to her attacking instincts and powerful baseline groundstrokes. (Curiously, Swiatek has felt revitalised herself by linking up with Osaka’s former coach, the Belgian Wim Fissette, this year).

Polar opposite frames of mind

Osaka reached the final of the WTA 1000 in Toronto which was evidence enough that the game had never left her, and the confidence that was lacking had returned. She won three matches routinely to set up the blockbuster against Gauff, and arrived at Arthur Ashe Stadium determined to relish the opportunity of playing these big matches once again.

Her opponent was in a polar opposite frame of mind. Gauff’s indifferent 2025 led her to make a drastic change on the eve of this tournament, parting ways with a coach and joining hands with a biomechanics specialist designated to fix her faltering serve. The extreme western grip on her forehand, too, was a concern.

She had a fraught first week at the tournament, escaping with wins twice and feeling the weight of the expectations on her while she made such a big change in full public view. She arrived into this match bogged down by it all. And Osaka would take advantage to dismantle her.

From the very first point, the Japanese was on top, breaking Gauff’s serve in the opening game and staying confident on her serve. Tellingly, she dominated the baseline exchanges — the uninitiated may not have known which of these two is the higher-ranked, younger player — by targeting Gauff’s serve, on which she had another off day, and blowing her away on the crosscourt forehand exchanges. Gauff made 20 unforced errors on her forehand.

This was Osaka flexing her resurgent game and strategic knowhow; and Gauff looking especially off-colour. After Gauff netted a simple forehand in the second set, Osaka was not even made to nervily serve for the match and handed the victory with another error, the American looked like she had put herself out of her misery.

Gauff’s journey from here may be tricky, with every onlooker and herself sure she needs technical adjustments and improvements. But Osaka will take away a lot from the encounter, a first big win and a signalling of her return to the top.

“Coco is one of the best players in the world. I have the most fun when I play against the best players. I always see it as a challenge. I like challenges,” she said after the win. “These are the moments that I play tennis for.”

She plays 11th seed Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, and she will arrive as the favourite.