naomi-osaka
MONTREAL — Naomi Osaka probably isn’t going to be doing tourism ads for this city in the near future.
The Japanese star appeared sour at times as the noisy Montreal crowd tried to make an impact in her 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss to Canada’s Victoria Mboko in the final of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers on Thursday.
The WTA Tour announced about an hour after the match that Osaka would not be available for a press conference and that quotes would be provided.
“I think Victoria played really well,” Osaka said, in the transcript provided the WTA. “I completely forgot to congratulate her on the court. … She did really amazing.”
After a strong first set, the four-time Grand Slam champ seemed to unravel.
$el.after( unescape("%3Cscript src=\"" + (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\" %3E%3C/script%3E") );
$( document ).one( 'ready', function() { $( "#video_container-579170" ).SNPlayer( { bc_account_id: "1704050871", bc_player_id: "JCdte3tMv", //autoplay: true, //is_has_autoplay_switch: false, bc_videos: 6376675755112, is_has_continuous_play: "false", section: "", thumbnail: "https://www.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/6376675755112-1024x576.jpg", direct_url: "https://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/video/how-mboko-won-the-mental-battle-against-osaka-to-earn-nbo-victory/" }); });
Early in the third set, Osaka got a warning from the umpire for hitting a ball into the stands after a fault.
After the match, she was very short in her on-court speech when she was announced as runner-up.
After a round of applause and some yelling from the crowd, Osaka said: “Thanks, I guess.
“I don’t really want to take up too much time, so I’ll just say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my team, thank you to the ballkids, thank you to the organizers and all the volunteers, and I hope you guys all had a good night.”
Some on social media noted Osaka did not congratulate Mboko.
The Canadian defended Osaka in her press conference.
“If that was her wish (not to do a press conference), I respect it as well,” Mboko said. “I still think Naomi’s an incredible player, and it doesn’t ever change what I think of her. I think she’s still a really nice girl and I still look up to her.”
The partisan crowd probably wasn’t as polite as most tennis crowds. There was at least one loud “Yeah” from the stands after Osaka double-faulted in the first game. As Mboko gained momentum later in the match, it was hard to prevent the fans from cheering while Osaka prepared to serve.
The umpire did try to keep the crowd quiet throughout the match, asking fans not to talk during points and repeatedly requesting less noise.