Osaka, from dream to bad dream

From the first moment, Naomi Osaka looks uncomfortable.

The Japanese, the national epicenter in these Games that have returned her sportingly to the showcase of the competition, her trapezius muscles seize and her legs block.

Look up.

Take a deep breath.

He shakes his head from side to side and front to back in an attempt to clear the strangling tension that is consuming him during the Round of 16 match against Marketa Vondrousova.

But there is no remedy.

The second in the world, 23 years old, falls 6-1 and 6-4, and the dream finally turns into a bad dream.

A nightmare that abruptly closes his first Olympic experience.

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As soon as the defeat is confirmed, the journalists rush to the rectilinear fence that delimits the mixed zone, where the tennis players serve them after the games, win or lose. The reporters are arranged in the different

boxes

-televisions and written press, shifts of English and Japanese- and hold the tape recorders, while the camera operators look for the best angle of shot and aim their objectives towards the door through which they should theoretically exit the winner of the big four, empty this Tuesday, nervous from the first ball in play and barely holding on to the tournament, until the Czech closes.

"He's gone", officially broadcasts a member of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) after a 20-minute wait - the attention to the media these days is practically immediate, as the matches end - so that journalists return to the tables, ready to write again about the silence of Osaka. Soon after, however, another organizer approaches and gives the green light: "Naomi will answer your questions immediately." The races are repeated and, now, the tennis player accesses the compartmentalized area with a neutral expression and gets ready. "They can ask two questions," warns the ITF emcee.

And Osaka speaks.

Little, but in the end he rectifies and ends up facing that bad drink that, he says, is the public question-answer format.

"Definitely, yes, there was a lot of pressure," she responds when the nervousness is attributed to her and is asked if she has accused an excess of pressure when competing at home, after having become the first tennis player in history to light the Olympic cauldron.

He wears the oversized helmets (from one of his many sponsors) that he regularly uses to withdraw during tournaments.

And this, she emphasized the day before, was especially important to her: "It would mean a lot to win here."

But the bombing is a fact.

The 42nd in the world progresses and she says goodbye without a medal.

The tension of the Olympic premiere

For the first time since tennis returned to the Olympics, at Seoul 88, the top three female seeds were eliminated before the quarter-finals. Before they left the number one, Ashleigh Barty, and the three, Aryna Sabalenka. “It doesn't surprise me, because Vondrousova plays tennis very well and in the end, she hadn't played for a long time and it shows. There is no magic here ”, Garbiñe Muguruza reasons, already in the eighths (6-4 and 6-1 to Alyson van Uytvanck). “I think maybe it's because I had never played in a Games and this first time it was a bit too much. But I'm happy with the way I played and the rest I took before ”.

"I don't think I did it wrong," he continued.

But my expectations here were much higher.

I previously took longer breaks [this time 56 days without racing since leaving Roland Garros] and then managed to come back and do well.

I think my attitude was not that good because I really don't know how to cope with that pressure, so I have done the best I could in this situation ”, he resolved before heading into the dressing room without confirming if he will compete in the US Open in the near future. New York (from August 30 to September 12), nor if it will be shot in other events prior to the great North American.

MUGURUZA AND BADOSA, TO ROOMS

Raising the level progressively, Garbiñe Muguruza is already among the eight best in the Olympic tournament after defeating Belgian Alyson van Uytvanck on Tuesday 6-4 and 6-1. The 27-year-old Spaniard, who has two Grand Slams on her record, will now face the winner of the duel between Donna Vekic and Elena Rybakina.

"Things have gone well for me in these first three games, I have good feelings," he valued before facing the second date of the day with Carla Suárez in the doubles. "I came prepared, here I go," she continued; “After Roland Garros and Wimbledon I have tried to reorganize my mind, I did not want to feel so pressured; I wanted to be kinder to myself, because in those two tournaments I had a pretty bad time because I came with enthusiasm and… whoosh! [slaps his hand] ”.

Paula Badosa advanced next to him, tackling Nadia Podoroska with everything and beat her 6-2, 6-3. The 23-year-old Catalan will now face Vondrousova, the protagonist of the day's bell. Meanwhile, Anastasija Pavlyuchenkova, finalist this year at Roland Garros, truncated the good step of Sara Sorribes. The Valencian, 24 years old and 48th in the world, said goodbye to Tokyo after falling 6-1 and 6-3, although in the suitcase she takes the valuable victory she obtained in the premiere against the number one of the WTA, Barty .

In the final stretch of the day, the women's doubles lost their two options: Muguruza and Carla Suárez were eliminated by losing against Viktorija Golubic and Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-1 and 11-9, and Badosa and Sorribes lost 6- 2, 5-7 and 10-5 against Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

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