She is 4 for 4 in Grand Slam finals, a feat achieved in the Open era only by Monica Seles on her way to nine total championships and Roger Federer on his way to 20. “That’s very amazing company,” said Osaka, who held her childhood idol, the 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, to the same number of games, seven, mustered by Brady, a 25-year-old in her first major final. She added, “You can only just keeping going down your own path.”Osaka, who won her second United States Open title this past September, is halfway to a Naomi Slam. “I have been in the position that she is in to go into the first Slam,” Osaka said, referring to Brady. But then I was thinking on the other side, for me, I wonder if I’m expected to do better because I have been in Slam finals before.

Source: New York Times February 20, 2021 10:04 UTC