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By Giri Nathan
[vc_empty_space height="15px"]Seven times, on the precipice of failure, Naomi Osaka remembered that she was Naomi Osaka. On Thursday night in San Jose, visited by the most ferocious version of Coco Gauff she’d seen yet, Osaka went down 1–5 in the second set. From there, in two separate instances, Osaka fell into a 0–40 hole on her serve, staring up at a pile of Coco match points. And seven times, Osaka snuffed out those chances, with an ace down the T, an ace out wide, a furious forehand, whatever the moment called for. “When I was playing I realized I’ve been letting people call me mentally weak for so long that I forgot who I was,” Osaka said, reflecting later on the match points. “I lost today, but I feel really confident in who I am. I feel like the pressure doesn’t beat me. I am the pressure. I’m really happy with that.” It was as much a reminder to herself as it was to any viewer who might’ve forgotten what her A game looks like. If you’ve seen it, you know how exhilarating it can be to catch even a glint of it—and there it was, unmistakably, at the tail end of a 6–4, 6–4 loss.