The Japanese star’s hopes of a medal at her home games are over.
Naomi Osaka has suffered a shock exit in the third round of the tennis at the Olympics, after losing in straight sets to Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Osaka had been one of the faces of the Games in Tokyo and had the honour of lighting the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony on Friday.
But her dreams of winning an Olympic medal in her home country are over. Osaka lost 6-1 6-4 to world number 42 Vondrousova in the last 16 of the tennis competition.
After the defeat, the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion admitted that the pressure may have got to her.
She said: “I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this.
“I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year it was a bit much.”
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The Olympics marked Osaka’s return to tennis since withdrawing from the French Open this summer and taking a break from the sport after revealing that she had been suffering with bouts of depression.
The 23-year-old wasn’t blaming this break for her poor performance though.
“I think I’m glad with how I played, with taking that break that I had,” she said.
“I’ve taken long breaks before and I’ve managed to do well. I’m not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher.
“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”
The women’s singles draw is wide open now though, with Osaka’s exit following that of world number one Ashleigh Barty in the first round. Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina is the highest-ranked player left in the event.
As for 22-year-old Vondrousova, she will now play either Spain’s Paula Badosa or Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in the last eight.
