Groundbreaker Osaka feeling support, not pressure, from Japanese media
Japan's first female US Open semi-finalist, Naomi Osaka, says she feels "a lot of support" from the country's media.
Naomi Osaka insists she does not feel burdened by pressure as she looks to build on becoming Japan's first female US Open semi-finalist.
The 20-year-old, who was born in the city of Osaka to a Japanese mother and Haitian father before moving to the United States at the age of three, trounced an ailing Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-1 on Wednesday to reach her maiden slam semi-final.
Kimiko Date was the last Japanese woman to make the last four of a grand slam, achieving the feat at Wimbledon in 1996.
Osaka's progress at Flushing Meadows - together with men's quarter-finalist Kei Nishikori - are naturally commanding significant attention from the Japanese media.
Yet Osaka said: "I don't really feel pressure from them. I feel a lot of support, and I'm really grateful about that. I feel a little bit like I'm used to it.
"It means a lot [to reach the semis], but for me I feel like I was much more emotional for the quarters. And then now I feel like it's sort of like business again.
"I always thought if I were to win a grand slam, the first one I'd want to win is the US Open, because I have grown up here and then my grandparents can come and watch. I think it would be really cool.
"But I'm not trying to put too much pressure on myself. I know I'm in a position that I can possibly do that, but I want to really think that I'm grateful to be in the position that I am in the first place, and I just want to take one point at a time."
As her opponent Tsurenko struggled with illness on Wednesday, Osaka appeared comfortable despite another day of oppressive heat in New York.
In her on-court interview, she prompted laughter by saying: "I actually don't think it's that hot.
"I think it's because I'm used to the Florida heat," Osaka added. "I actually enjoyed it."