“Yeah, I mean, honestly, I don’t really look at the result too much anymore. As long as I wake up every day and hit the ball and think I’m improving, that itself is a win and obviously sometimes in the season there are dips, highs, and lows,” says Naomi Osaka who has been knocked out of the French Open by Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 6-3.
Osaka last won a major tournament title in 2021 at the Australian Open, where she defeated Jennifer Brady in the final, 6–4, 6–3, adding a fourth Grand Slam singles championship.
Osaka has never won the French Open title and has never reached the final at Roland Garros. Clay has traditionally been her least successful surface.
Before 2026, her best result at the French Open was reaching the third round. In this year’s tournament, she made a breakthrough by reaching the second week for the first time. Her run ended in the fourth round, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.
This year’s French Open has been full of surprises, with many fan favourites and former champions making early exits. In the men’s singles draw, three-time champion Novak Djokovic was knocked out in the third round by Joao Fonseca.
At the same time, 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka was also eliminated in what marked his final appearance at Roland Garros. Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, withdrew before the tournament began because of a wrist injury.
The women’s singles competition has been just as unpredictable. Four-time champion Iga Swiatek saw her title hopes come to an end in the Round of 16 after a defeat to Marta Kostyuk.
Kostyuk has continued her impressive run and will face Mirra Andreeva in Thursday’s semi-final.
There were more surprises when defending champion Coco Gauff was eliminated in the third round by Anastasia Potapova. However, Potapova’s run was short-lived, as she was defeated by Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round in a hard-fought match that ended 6-4, 2-6, 7-10.
