"Naomi Osaka is like Angel Reese on tennis court" - Fans disappointed in Japanese after French Open early exit

Naomi Osaka faced a crushing loss to Paula Badosa in the first round of the ongoing French Open. The Japanese fell 7-6(1), 1-6, 4-6, which enraged her admirers as she came fresh off a title win at Saint-Malo, in hopes of putting up a strong performance in Paris.

Osaka clinched the first set but gradually lost control of her form. Badosa capitalized on her errors and won the match. Even though clay surface, especially the French Open, hasn't always been the strongest suit of the Japanese, the expectations were high owing to her strong start against the Spaniard, who hasn't been able to be in her best form this season due to injury.

Tennis fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to react to this and stated how disappointed they were in Osaka. Some attempted to vilify her for focusing more on her outfits than her game, while some showed support, stating that she never was exceptional on clay surfaces. Some even compared her to WNBA star Angel Reese, who is known for her on-court fashion but has been performing poorly for the Chicago Sky this season.

Here are some of the fan reactions:

"She's like Angel Reese on the tennis court," wrote a user.

"Osaka needs to play some 125k and 250 to improve her ranking... Facing a top 20 player in the first round of every big tournament makes no sense," wrote another.

"As always, Osaka’s defense on clay does not exist," stated another.

"Osaka's comeback is one of the worst ever. At this point she's basically a pretty ugly Nike model," opined a user.

"It’s not a big win. Badosa is the 10 seed and Osaka has never performed well on clay," posted one.

"Love Naomi but doing so much for her kit and getting out in the first round is objectively hilarious," wrote another.

However, the loss affected Naomi Osaka terribly as she was in tears after the match.

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Naomi Osaka in tears after her loss to Paula Badosa

Naomi Osaka at the 2025 Roland-Garros - Image Source: Getty

Naomi Osaka was seen in tears at the post-match press conference after her first-round loss to Paula Badosa. The tennis star expressed her grief on letting her coach, Patrick Moratoglou, down, who had earlier trained some of the greatest tennis players.

“I hate disappointing people. Even with Patrick I was thinking just now that he goes from working with like the greatest player ever to like… what the f*** this is," she said.

She will hopefully be able to gain her confidence back and come back strong in Wimbledon.