If there was some (justifiable) doubt earlier, consider it over with: Naomi Osaka is back—with an asterisk. In a kind of instant classic, the unseeded and 134th-ranked Osaka—who returned to the tour in January after a 15-month layoff and maternity leave and had yet to find the form that led her to four major titles—came within a serve of upsetting the seemingly unbeatable world number one and three-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek. At one point Osaka was up 5-2 in the third, and soon after served for the match at 5-3, having dominated most of the second and third sets—but in the end Swiatek showed the kind of will and fortitude that have led many to compare her to Rafa, rolling through four straight games to win 7-6, 1-6, 7-5.
With the rain pounding down on the roof of Court Philippe-Chatrier (postponing the rest of the day’s matches, save for those at Roland-Garros’s three covered courts), what began as a seemingly processional march by Swiatek toward yet another French Open title soon turned into a kind of battle royale, with the crowd unable to contain their emotions. (I mean, same, but I was shouting and punching my fist in an otherwise quiet Vogue office 3,500 miles from Paris.) The commotion prompted Swiatek to address the crowd in her post-match on-court interview: “Please don’t shout during the rallies,” she said. “This is serious for us. I hope I don’t become one of those players you don’t like and boo.”
That doesn’t seem likely—but if Swiatek’s utter dominance of the game in the last few years has sometimes made it hard to root for her, her seemingly magical ability to summon strength, focus, and limitless determination when this match seemed all but over for her has surely won her even more legions of fans.
As for Osaka: Yes, she lost the battle—but she also showed the world (and, more importantly perhaps, herself) that she’s yet again capable of beating anybody. Watching her practice on Philippe-Chatrier on Saturday, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: She seemed utterly possessed, hitting balls harder and cleaner and more accurately than I’d ever seen any player—man, woman, rookie, veteran—ever hit in practice. Saying that she seemed out to prove something didn’t even begin to touch on it; she seemed singularly, and quietly, focused but with a searing intensity.
Now it all makes sense: On April 26 she posted a moody, shadowy image of herself hitting a serve on a clay court to her Instagram, writing: “Ngl guys I think I’m on to something. It’s all about to click, I feel it in the air.” Today she may have been one click, one serve, away—but she’s definitely on to something.
