Why Naomi Osaka's deep US Open run was so important for women's tennis

NEW YORK — For all intents and purposes, Serena Williams stopped being a true threat to win Grand Slam titles in 2020 but carried women’s tennis on her shoulders all the way until her official retirement at the US Open in 2022.

Serious fans understand that her exit did not leave the sport without compelling players. With six major titles at the age of 24, Iga Swiatek is on track to finish her career among the all-time greats. Coco Gauff has the charisma to capture America’s imagination from time to time even if her game goes in fits and starts. Aryna Sabalenka, who will try to defend her US Open title Saturday, is a volatile and powerful force of nature who is always around in the final stages of Grand Slams.

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But for all the attributes those women bring to the table, what the sport hasn’t had since Serena’s departure is a true needle-mover.

Only one player on tour really fits that bill.

And though Naomi Osaka’s run at the US Open ended in the early hours of Friday morning with a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss to the brilliant 24-year old American Amanda Anisimova, what she accomplished during the two weeks of this tournament was perhaps the most important development of the decade for the viability of women’s tennis as a mainstream sport.

Just when it seemed like Osaka’s career was headed off a cliff, there is now legitimate reason to believe she can pick up where she left off in 2021 as the sport’s dominant character — only if this semifinal loss fuels her ambition more than discourages her progress.

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“Honestly, I don’t feel sad,” Osaka said. “It’s really weird. Well, it’s not weird. I feel like I did the best I could and honestly it’s kind of inspiring for me because it makes me want to train and try to get better and hopefully just give it my very best shot again and see what happens. But I can’t be mad or upset at myself.”

There’s no doubt this loss will be a bitter one for Osaka to process in the short-term. After winning the opening set against an erratic Anisimova, she got close to the finish line on several occasions but couldn’t quite push past it. As the match wore on deeper into the night, Osaka’s level dipped and Anisimova grabbed control, popping winner after winner off her racket.

That’s a great story of its own. After losing the Wimbledon final to Swiatek 6-0, 6-0 a couple months ago, Anisimova will have an opportunity Saturday to bring her remarkable summer full circle. But as compelling a product as the WTA Tour puts out week to week, women’s tennis isn’t much different than any other sport. Its place in the wider culture depends on personality and star power, that undefinable quality we struggle to explain but know immediately when we see it.

Osaka has had it since she first came into our lives in 2018, upsetting Williams in a US Open final that felt at the time like a true passing of the torch. Nobody else in women’s tennis comes close.

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But that sudden burst of international fame is also what broke Osaka, a shy and sometimes socially awkward young woman whose life changed almost overnight on two continents. She wasn’t just suddenly a tabloid-level public figure in America but also in Japan, where sports stars often have their own traveling press pool and are expected to be ambassadors for their country all over the world.

By the summer of 2021, when Osaka was chosen to light the Olympic cauldron, it had all become too much. She was withdrawn and unhappy, increasingly evasive with the media and crumbling under the weight of her own demand for perfection.

Since losing early in that Olympic tournament, Osaka has been through mental health breaks, two comeback attempts, the birth of a daughter and a public breakup with rapper Cordae, who held the trophy with her when she won the COVID-impacted US Open in 2020 in front of an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.

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Back then, it seemed like Osaka couldn’t be stopped; a tennis freight train and marketing machine with crossover appeal to hardcore tennis fans and those on the fringe who used to tune in just for Williams.

Osaka was the only one who could have held that audience once Serena left the scene. And that’s why it was such a blow to the WTA Tour — an organization that has endured significant financial strain since 2020 — when Osaka faded away at the same time.

Since then, women’s tennis had essentially written off Osaka as a bankable, consistent draw. Though she showed flashes of her old form in 2024 and 2025, you can only fill that role at the top of the marquee if you are winning tournaments and going deep in Grand Slams.

Osaka wasn’t doing any of that. She would dutifully show up to events, win a round or maybe two, then get beat by a player who wouldn’t have stood much chance against her a few years ago.

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At a certain point, expecting the old Osaka to come back seemed foolish.

Now, suddenly, there’s hope again. And it all happened in a matter of two tournaments with a rush of wins that proved she can still be an iconic player, not just a fashionable one.

“She’s back where she belongs,” Anisimova said in her on-court interview after the match. "I told her that I’m so proud of her after having a baby and playing at this level. It’s insane.”

In so many ways, the Osaka we saw at this US Open is the same player who made millions of fans across the globe adore her: The ferocious hitting from the baseline, the fashion sense, the adorable post-match interviews introducing her Labubu dolls.

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But, in other ways, she’s an entirely different person: A happier presence, a more comfortable public figure, a mother.

Most of all, she loves the sport again. As she said after Wednesday’s quarterfinal, she loves it more than she even knew. Hopefully that’s enough to keep her mind level and motivated through the disappointment of letting this semifinal slip away.

With Osaka’s immense God-given ability to hit a tennis ball, this run might be the beginning of the next phase. Just by making the semifinals, she’s back where she belongs. And regardless of whether Anisimova or Sabalenka goes home with the trophy, Osaka’s presence in the championship mix made women’s tennis the biggest winner of all.

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