US Open 2018: Comparing aggressive Serena Williams with reserved Naomi Osaka ahead of women's singles showdown

Serena Williams was only 18 when she won the US Open women’s singles: her first ever Grand Slam title. On Sunday, Naomi Osaka will be 20 years and 11 months old when she takes on her biggest inspiration at Flushing Meadows for a chance at the title. The similarities between the two are striking. Both women were trained by their fathers early on and hit with them on court as young girls. Both have older sisters who also play tennis: Naomi’s sister Mari, 22, plays with her on the doubles circuit occasionally. Both played on public courts growing up — and Osaka has even said that when people saw her practising with her sister, they asked them if they were to be the “next Venus and Serena”. Both also hit in Florida, where Osaka has lived since she was three. Their games, too, are very reminiscent of one another and it is really a no-brainer as to why — Osaka has openly said she has modelled her game on Williams’, and “hope(s) to play like her some day”. Like Williams, Osaka too is best on hard courts — something the numbers back up. Both are aggressive baseline players with a focus on their fast serves: while Serena has one of the five fastest serves on tour, Osaka has hit one of the 10 fastest serves in women’s tennis — at 125 miles per hour, the ninth-fastest. In what is a good omen for her, that serve came at the 2016 US Open. [caption id=“attachment_5144361” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Serena Williams has never lost a Grand Slam final in which she won the first set. Reuters[/caption] By the numbers: Williams is the only player to deliver a double bagel at the quarter-final, or later stages of the US Open. Williams defeated Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain at the 2013 quarter-finals. The final two have some interesting parallels en route, too: At the US Open this year alone, Williams has delivered three bagels already — first in her opening match against Magda Linette, then in the Round of 16 against American Kaia Kanepi, and then in her semi-final against Anastasija Sevastova. Interestingly, so has Osaka: A double bagel in her opening match against the experienced Laura Siegemund of Germany, and in her Round 2 match against Israel’s Julia Glushko. Serena has never lost a Grand Slam final after winning the first set. At present, she is 21-0. Williams has dropped only a single set en route to the final. So has Osaka — also in the Round of 16, against Aryna Sabalenka. But perhaps the most glaring difference is in the aces. In her own pack of cards, Serena would be the Queen of Aces. In four of her six matches this year, Serena has hit 10 or more aces. Into the finals now, she has 64. In contrast, although Osaka has the same big-hitting, fast game that Serena has, she has managed, in her past four matches, less than half at 30. What is in Osaka’s favour, however, is her extremely consistent serve. Where Williams can be a bit erratic, Osaka’s win percentage on second serve is consistently high for each of her matches; barring marginal difficulties in her match against Sabalenka, she has not dipped below 60 percent. The Japanese ace also plays a more calculated, drawn-out game, carefully constructing points to structure wins — a key component of her semi-final win against Madison Keys. She is also not prone to erratic play, which has been crucial in her wins, and there is nary a wild shot to be seen off the racquet of Osaka. On the other hand, Williams has in the past been erratic on her returns, and can get frustrated if points do not immediately go her way. Between her quarter and semi-final matches, Williams has committed 50 unforced errors; Osaka’s measured game means she has committed only 31 in her last two matches. Then again, the Serena Williams of 2018 is a completely different player, temperamentally speaking. The American has been calm, collected and consistent, but still manages to maintain the on-court aggression and drive that has had her leading the game for the past two decades. Osaka, for all her talent and fast serves, is more reserved — something that might spill into playing against the most powerful player in the sport on Saturday. Osaka is quick around the net — but in her semi-final, Serena blasted baseline winners, served and volleyed her way to that 6-3, 6-0 win. Osaka has beaten Williams in the pair’s only match against each other — at Miami earlier this year. Then, the younger ace had taken a 6-3, 6-2 win over the former World No 1. That, however, was at the beginning of Williams’ return to the sport — since then, the American ace has made two Grand Slam finals including the US Open, and has looked entirely unstoppable. What has been on Osaka’s side is the fact that the Williams sisters broke the racial barriers in tennis so many years ago, that inspired a new generation in ways that cannot necessarily be quantified. If Osaka were to repeat her Miami feat at the US Open, it could well mean a changing of the guard in women’s tennis — and a handover from an idol to one of her biggest fans. Williams has been a record-holder throughout her career, and now, Osaka, who is a record-holder for Japan, could well become the idol for a new, future generation of tennis players. The fact still remains, however, that Williams has the highest win percentage of any player at the US Open in the Open Era: 89.6, ahead of Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Pete Sampras at number four. The showdown would truly, then, appear to be Williams’ match to lose. Saturday’s final will be a battle of perseverance, grit and true longevity against a new young claimant to the title. But as Williams herself said after the semi-final, “this is just the beginning of my return. I’m still on my way up.”