JAKARTA - Naomi Osaka expressed her fear when she witnessed Daria Saville's knee injury. Saville fell in front of Osaka as the two competed at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, September 20.
Quoted from AFP, Wednesday, Saville lay on the field seven minutes after entering the match. He suffered an injury to his left knee due to a strike across the field in the second game of the match.
As a result of this incident, Saville had to end his premature struggle against world number one Osaka. Despite undergoing treatment for a few minutes, the results of the examination forced Saville to withdraw.
Before expressing his fear, Osaka had rushed to the side of the field to check the Australian's condition. But what Osaka saw in Saville at that time really made him silent.
"I thought he just shouted because he thought his foreplay came out, then I realized he was screaming because he was in pain," Osaka said as broadcast by AFP.
"Then I was really scared because I felt as an athlete, we had a fairly high tolerance for pain. It felt really bad," he continued.
Despite Osaka's fear of Saville's injury, the tennis queen was in break-point 30-40 in the second game. But with Saville's withdrawal, Osaka automatically advanced to face Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia on Thursday.
The situation that led him to advance to the advanced round without any hard efforts was also unexpected by Osaka. Although happy, but he also felt confused because the situation was confusing.
"Right now, it's still a bit strange that I just won the game, I feel like I didn't win the game," said Osaka, who lost in the first half of her last three tournaments.
"I think I did it and I went through the tournament. I'm not really thinking about the final now," Osaka said.
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