Osaka Returns to BJK Cup Duty with Hopeful Eye on Olympics

Olympic return? Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021. Jewel SAMAD / AFP/File
Olympic return? Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021. Jewel SAMAD / AFP/File
TT

Osaka Returns to BJK Cup Duty with Hopeful Eye on Olympics

Olympic return? Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021. Jewel SAMAD / AFP/File
Olympic return? Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021. Jewel SAMAD / AFP/File

Naomi Osaka returns to the BJK Cup for the first time in four years on Friday, optimistically hoping to force her way into the Olympic Games.
The former world number one and four-time major winner has been named in the Japan squad to face Kazakhstan in Tokyo.
It will be the 26-year-old's first appearance in the team competition since February 2020 which means that she hasn't fulfilled the obligation of making it to two ties in one Olympic cycle.
If she is to secure a spot in the Japan team for the Paris Olympics "she'll need to go through the appeals process," a spokesman for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) told AFP.
However, the ITF also reserves a place in each singles draw at the Games to a Grand Slam title winner.
Osaka was absent from the tour from September 2022 until January this year after giving birth to her first child.
At the Australian Open, she was ranked a lowly 831 but a quarter-final run in Qatar followed by back-to-back third round spots at Indian Wells and Miami have lifted her to just inside the top 200 and number four in Japan.
The singles event at the Olympics is limited to 64 players with a maximum of four from each nation.
Osaka has already experienced the Olympics, lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 where she went on to make the third round.
That appearance came just months after she withdrew from the French Open at Roland Garros -- the venue for this summer's Olympics tennis event -- citing mental health issues.
Japan's tie with Kazakhstan on Friday and Saturday will be staged at Tokyo's Ariake Coliseum, the venue for the 2021 Olympic tournament.
"She said that she wants to play, so I'm really happy," local media quoted Japan captain Ai Sugiyama as saying when the team for this weekend was announced.
Eight BJK Cup qualifying ties take place this week with the winners advancing to the 12-team finals in November where they will join hosts Spain, defending champions Canada, 2023 runners-up Italy and wild-card Czech Republic.
World number one Iga Swiatek leads Poland in their tie against Switzerland at Biel.
Swiatek returns to the squad for the first time since the 2022 qualifiers, when she led Poland to a 4-0 victory against Romania.
Eighteen-time champions United States host Belgium in Orlando with their challenge spearheaded by world number five Jessica Pegula.
Ukraine are playing their home tie against Romania in Florida as they attempt to reach the finals for the first time.



Ostapenko on Upward Trajectory as Clay Season Gains Momentum 

Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
TT

Ostapenko on Upward Trajectory as Clay Season Gains Momentum 

Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko holds the winner's trophy following the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA tour, in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Jelena Ostapenko is starting to show shades of the form that saw her crowned French Open champion eight years ago with the Latvian knocking over the top two players in the world en route to winning the Stuttgart Open title on Monday.

Ostapenko became the first woman to beat the world number one and number two in the same claycourt event since Serena Williams at Madrid in 2012 by beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final and Iga Swiatek in the quarters.

Her ninth tour-level title, and just her second on clay, lifted Ostapenko six places in the world rankings to 18th, marking her out as a dark horse ahead of Roland Garros, which begins on May 25.

"Honestly, I didn't tell anyone, but I felt confident since the first day. I had a strange feeling in a good way," she told reporters in Stuttgart.

"When I came here, I felt like something's going to happen this week. I pretty much felt that I can win this tournament.

"I think I'm improving day by day and I'm playing better and better. I think I deserve it."

Ostapenko, who also beat Swiatek on the way to the Doha final in February before losing to Amanda Anisimova, has failed to reach a Grand Slam final since her Roland Garros breakthrough in 2017.

However, she said playing without the burden of expectation had worked wonders for her this season.

"I had enough pressure in my career," Ostapenko told the WTA website. "I didn't feel it even though it was the final. In my mind, I was just playing a match."

Ostapenko will be in action in Madrid this week and is also dreaming of another deep run in Paris.

"Obviously I can play well on this surface," she added.

"I will take it match by match, but anything can happen."