Naomi Osaka ‘trying not to be too hard’ on herself after loss to Elise Mertens in third round at Indian Wells

Naomi Osaka said she was “trying not to be too hard” on herself after losing to Elise Mertens in the third round at Indian Wells.

Playing the tournament for the first time since giving birth to daughter Shai last July, Osaka was beaten 7-5 6-4 by the 24th seed.

She is now 3-5 this season after making her return to tennis following 18 months out.

“I wanted to win more Slams. That’s why I came back,” said Osaka afterwards.

“But I think I determine success right now just by the effort that I put in, and I feel like today I don’t think I played well at all, but I tried every point.

“I think, like, before I was pregnant, there were a couple of matches that I didn’t try as hard as I tried today, and I feel like I can walk off the court knowing that, although I’m sad about the loss, I know that I tried every possible way to get back in the match.

“I guess that’s how I determine success right now.”

Osaka stuck with Mertens during the first set as she recovered from 3-0 down to level at 3-3.

But a third break for Mertens in the 11th game saw her take the opener.

The second set saw Osaka again rally from behind to get to 3-3, only for Mertens to break in the next game and then save three break points before serving out the win.

Osaka finished with 25 unforced errors and 20 winners, while Mertens had 16 of each.

“I think I fought a lot harder, or I tried to fight a lot harder and find solutions to problems that were in front of me.

“Clearly it didn’t work out too well, so I hope that the more matches I play, the more I can find solutions.”

Asked about how she is finding the challenge of trying to get back to the top of the game after having won Grand Slams and spent time as world No. 1, Osaka said: “I feel like it is completely different, like, because you know that you’ve done it, so you’re desperately trying to do it again.

“I think when I was younger and I haven’t achieved, I guess, anything, it was always, like, a wonder or a possibility, and I wasn’t too hard on myself, because I was always just reaching the third round in Slams anyways.

“It is quite different from now, because I feel like I should be able to get to that level. Obviously – well, not obviously, but I feel like I’ve done it once before, so I should be able to do it again.”

Osaka will next play the Miami Open, where she made her most recent final in 2022.