PARIS – PARIS (AP) — Naomi Osaka smiled as she spoke to reporters after a 7-5, 6-3 first-round loss to Angelique Kerber at the Paris Olympics on Saturday night. She was disappointed with the result but hoped she could eventually return to the once-dominant player who won four Grand Slam singles titles and reached the No. 1 ranking.

“I think I have to learn how to win again. Maybe that’s something I forgot,” Osaka said. “Maybe I have to keep playing matches against really good players to learn that again.”

She was hoping for a better performance than she had three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics in her native Japan. She would be one of the big stars and was given the honor of lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony.

But Osaka lost there in the third round and said she felt burdened to perform well in front of her home fans. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, and the family moved to the United States when Osaka was 3.

“I felt more pressure in Tokyo,” said the 26-year-old Osaka. “I honestly felt like I could have done better today.”

She twisted her left leg awkwardly at 4-3 in the second set and said she had been given medication to help. But Osaka did not win another game against Kerber.

Asked how her leg felt afterwards, Osaka said: “I don’t know because I took a painkiller, so when it wears off I’ll let you know. It felt like I overstretched (it) a little bit. I felt a pinch when I played, but I hope I’m still quite young so maybe it’s not too bad.”

Kerber, who won silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, has indicated she will retire after competing for Germany at the Summer Games.

“Winning a match like this against Naomi, who is such an amazing champion, means a lot, especially since it’s my last tournament. It shows me that I can still beat the best players,” Kerber said. “I just tried to enjoy every moment. I’m looking forward to dancing again.”

Osaka rose to the top of the tennis world a few years ago, winning two championships from 2018 to 2021, the US Open and the Australian Open, and is now the highest-paid female athlete in all sports.

It was at the 2021 French Open — held at the same venue as the Paris Olympics tennis competition — that Osaka first revealed that she was struggling with anxiety and depression, and began a series of mental health breaks. She was one of the first high-profile athletes to speak out publicly about these issues and, along with fellow Olympians Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, helped bring them into the national conversation.

Osaka left the tour while pregnant; her daughter was born in July 2023. She returned to Grand Slam action at the Australian Open in January and looked to be back at her best tennis a few months later at the French Open, when she forced eventual champion Iga Swiatek to a three-set victory and held a match point.

But clay has never been Osaka’s best surface, largely because it blunts her best shots (her serve and forehand) and reduces their impact on her opponents.

“I feel like my serve could have been a lot better. When I was practicing, I had the same feeling,” Osaka said. “But I feel like that’s never an excuse to lose.”

Against Kerber, Osaka’s strokes were not good. She finished with 30 unforced errors, almost three times as many as Kerber’s 11. And Osaka broke Kerber only once while losing four of her own service games.

The 36-year-old Kerber is also not a big fan of clay: it is the only major tournament she has not won.

Kerber won trophies at the Australian Open and US Open in 2016, and Wimbledon in 2018, defeating Serena Williams in two of those finals. Kerber has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals in Paris.

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AP Olympic Games: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games