The 2019 Australian Open title belonged to Naomi Osaka who defeated Petra Kvitova in the final. Osaka won her second consecutive major title within a span of five months. She became the second player since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to back her maiden slam title with another in succession.

In a thrilling contest, the Japanese converted her fifth championship point to win the title. The win also meant that Osaka will now lead the rankings chart from the next week. She will become the 26th woman to become the WTA No.1 and the youngest to do so since Caroline Wozniacki. (Full match report –> here)

Following her win, Osaka opened up to the media and talked about her feelings regarding her accomplishment.

On Petra Kvitova:

“Huge congrats to you Petra, you went through so much, I didn’t want this to be our first meeting”

“I don’t think it was a drama, I had matchpoints on her serve, she was supposed to hold her serve (smiling)”

“Petra, you always hear that when she’s on, she’s pretty much unbeatable. I was nervous going in, that she might start to blast winners from everywhere”

On the presentation ceremony:

“I was in a state of shock during the entire trophy presentation. I thought the match was still going on”

“Li Na giving me the trophy, I was shocked, I was touched, I even wanted to cry a little bit”

“I forgot to smile during my speech, I was told to smile but I was panicking (laughter)”

“Public speaking… sorry, I don’t know, I feel like public speaking has to be some kind of talent”

On the big win:

“I mean, to me, it doesn’t [feel like a quick rise]. I guess looking from the outside, from your guys’ view, it does.”

“For me, every practice and every match that I’ve played, it feels like the year is short and long at the same time. But I’m aware of all the work that I put in. I know all the sacrifices that every player does to stay at this level. I mean, in my opinion, it didn’t feel fast. It felt kind of long.”

“Like, you know how some people get worked up about things? That’s a very human thing to do. Sometimes, I don’t know, like I feel like I don’t want to waste my energy doing stuff like that. I think about this on the court, too. Like in the third set of my match today, I literally just tried to turn off all my feelings. So that’s why I wasn’t yelling as much in the third set. ‘I’m not sure if that makes me grown up. I don’t think so. I just felt kind of hollow, like I was a robot sort of.”

“But then when it got towards the end, then I started, like, realizing how big the situation was, so then I think I started, like, yelling c’mon again.”

“In NY most of the crowd was for Serena, here it was split, they were for both of us”

On her team:

“I don’t think I would have made through these weeks without [my team] so thank you guys. I’m really honored to have played in this final, so thank you”

“I didn’t talk to him (Sascha Bajin) before the match, we don’t use to”

“I chose to work with Sasha for his positivity. Also he told me to be more consistent with the forehand”