I’m not God: Naomi Osaka

A philosophical Naomi Osaka said on Friday she ldquois not Godrdquo and cannot always win after the defending champion was knocked out of the Australian Open in the third round by unseeded Amanda AnisimovaThe Japanese fourtime Grand Slam champion won the first set on Margaret Court Arena but the nerveless American saved two match points in the third to pull off a huge 46 63 76 105 upsetAmanda AnisimovaOsaka was making her return to Grand Slam tennis after a long break following a tearful thirdround exit at the US Open in September the culmination of a difficult year where she was plagued by doubt and said she suffered depressionShe said ahead of the Australian Open that her goal for 2022 was to have more fun and she attempted to remain upbeat even after her title defence came to a premature endlsquoI fought for every pointrsquoldquoI fought for every point I canrsquot be sad about thatrdquo the former World No1 who was seeded 13th said ldquoYou know Irsquom not God I canrsquot win every match So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament thatrsquos really special and I canrsquot think of myself to try to win the Grand Slam at the start of the year every time I feel like I grew a lot in this match The last match that I played in New York US Open I think I had a completely different attitude so of course I lost but Irsquom happy with how it wentrdquo Defeat to Anisimova deprived the Osaka 24 of a shot at World No1 Ashleigh Barty in the fourth roundRecord intact for BartyMeanwhile top seed Barty kept her unblemished record this year intact with a straightsets demolition on Friday of Camila Giorgi to set up a fourthround clash with American giantkiller Anisimova Barty is now 70 for the season after winning the Adelaide International and has yet to drop a set easing past the Italian 30th seed 62 63 on Rod Laver ArenaRafael Nadal dropped a set for the first time at this yearrsquos Australian Open but played his best match since injury to overcome Karen Khachanov and steam into the fourth round on FridayThe 20time Grand Slam champion Nadal won 63 62 36 61 in 2hr 50min in a late night match on Rod Laver Arena World No3 Alexander Zverev powered his way into the Last 16 of the Australian Open with a superb serving display against Moldovarsquos Radu Albot on FridayThe powerful German Tokyo Olympic gold medallist thundered down 16 aces and won 83 percent of his first serve points to put away the 124thranked Albot 63 64 64 in 1hr 57min in hot conditions on John Cain ArenaBerrettini wins thrillerItalian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini fought off exciting Spanish youngster Carlos Alcaraz and the effects of a heavy tumble to win a fifthset tiebreaker and advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday Berrettini a Wimbledon finalist last year used all of his experience to down Alcaraz 18 the youngest man in the draw 62 76 73 46 26 76 105 in 4hr 10min on Rod Laver ArenaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever