"I stole one of the things that Rafael Nadal did and I’ve been practicing it recently" - Naomi Osaka on adapting her game to clay

Naomi Osaka recently revealed that she has been fine-tuning a couple of elements of her game to improve her performance on clay. The Japanese claimed to have picked up a couple of secrets from Rafael Nadal's claycourt game.

Nadal is widely considered to be the greatest claycourter in the history of the sport, so there's no one better that Osaka could have chosen to emulate.

Speaking to the media ahead of her Madrid Open campaign, the Japanese player revealed that she had "stolen" one of Nadal's techniques, which could boost her performance on the red dirt.

"I think I stole one of the things that he [Rafael Nadal] did and I’ve been practicing it recently," Osaka said. "It’ll either go really good or really bad. There’s like no in between. But I think as I’ve been doing it, it’s been going pretty well."

Osaka has historically struggled during this time of the season. She has never progressed beyond the third round of the French Open and is yet to reach the final of a clay event, let alone win a title.

As such, the 24-year-old revealed that she has been keenly observing top claycourt players in a bid to improve her game on the surface. She also expressed her desire to watch Carlos Alcraz practice on clay.

"Honestly I’ve been wanting to watch the really good clay-court players practice because I feel like I’m the type of person that learns really fast if I see it up close, and honestly it’s a bit of a waste to have all these really good professional tennis players and not watch them," Osaka said. "I’ve kind of wanted to see [Carlos] Alcaraz, so it’d be cool to watch everyone practice."

"I know that every kid growing up playing tennis in the world has pretended to be Rafael Nadal at least once" - Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka at the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open

During the conversation, Osaka was asked if she intended to show off some Nadal-esque tennis skills during the clay swing, including his lefty forehand.

While admitting that she has been practicing left-handed, the Japanese strongly suggested that she is unlikely to imitate the 21-time Major champion in that aspect. She further explained that she has been practicing with a lefty grip to improve her natural two-handed backhand.

"[Can you] Imagine? I’ve actually been warming up kind of left-handed but I don’t think that’s a skill that’s going to show itself anytime soon," Naomi Osaka said. "It’s just like for technical reasons. If I hit left-handed forehands, it’s easier to hit a backhand if that makes sense."

"I know that every kid growing up playing tennis in the world has pretended to be Nadal at least once," she added.