ryna Sabalenka vs. Naomi Osaka
⏰ Estimated start time: 2:00 p.m. ET
“I remember thinking, like, we’re both going to get very far,” Osaka said when she was asked about her only other meeting with Sabalenka, which took place at the 2018 US Open.
Osaka was right, of course, but for a time it looked like her close win that evening in Louis Armstrong Stadium had given her a permanent edge in their race toward the top. She would win four majors in the next three years and reach No. 1, while Sabalenka took the long way up the mountaintop. By the time she reached the summit, Osaka’s career has cratered.
Now the roles have reversed, and it’s Osaka who is chasing Sabalenka’s No. 1 ranking. After a couple of frustrating comeback years, she’s back up to No. 16, and she’s playing the event where she made her first breakthrough title run as a teenager, also in 2018. All in all, it’s not a bad time and place for Osaka to get her first crack at Sabalenka, and restart a rivalry that never came to be.
Sabalenka says it’s an occasion she’s looking forward to: “A fashion show at the beginning, then a crazy match. She’s a great player.”
