Tennis-Osaka's Wimbledon comeback ended by on-fire Navarro

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) -Naomi Osaka's goal to improve her grasscourt game will have to wait for at least another 12 months after her Wimbledon comeback stalled in the second round following a 6-4 6-1 walloping by American Emma Navarro that mercifully lasted only 58 minutes.

When the four-times Grand Slam champion returned to the tour in January following a 15-month maternity break, top of her wish list was to "do much better on clay and grass".

Unfortunately for the Japanese superstar, she failed to match even her career-best third-round showings at the French Open and now at Wimbledon.

"I didn't feel fully confident in myself. Those doubts started trickling in a lot into my game. I don't know why those thoughts were so prevalent," wildcard Osaka, taking a long pause to collect her thoughts, told reporters.

"I'm a little disappointed because I wanted to do really well. I feel like I put a lot of time into it. There's always next year, so...,"

Osaka put in a rousing performance at Roland Garros as she almost pushed world number one and eventual champion Iga Swiatek over the edge, squandering a match point before perishing in the second round.

A month later, however, her second-round performance under a closed Centre Court roof was as lousy as the British weather as her game fell apart against 19th seed Navarro after she produced four erratic errors to get broken in the seventh game of the first set.

Navarro, after sealing the first set with a crunching crosscourt winner, did not let her opponent's status distract her from the job at hand and she kept up the relentless pressure in the second set as she raced into a 4-0 lead.

The popular Osaka, now ranked 113th and competing at Wimbledon this week for the first time since 2019, was given a roaring ovation from the crowd when she finally registered a game to avoid a second-set whitewash but that was only a brief reprieve and she bowed out by slapping a forehand long.

"Naomi didn't do much wrong but she didn't do much right either, too many errors and Navarro was on fire," nine-times Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova said while commentating.

Before heading home to celebrate her daughter Shai's first birthday this weekend, Osaka added with a rueful smile: "I do know that my last claycourt match was really good. So I might end up liking that surface a lot more than grass now."

Navarro was left to toast her best-ever run at the All England Club, although the 143,000 pounds ($182,150) she picked up for reaching the third round here for the first time will be small change for a player who is the daughter of an American billionaire.

"It was my first time on Centre Court here at Wimbledon, it doesn’t really feel real," a beaming Navarro told the crowd in a courtside interview.

"I’ve been having a lot of fun on grass. It’s kind of been the theme of my time on tour so far, just trying to enjoy myself and today was no exception."

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Clare Fallon)