Tennis ace worried

“Fire is three blocks away from my house”

Naomi Osaka's thoughts are in her home city of Los Angeles, which is threatened by forest fires.(Bild: AFP/APA/DAVID GRAY)

Tennis star Naomi Osaka may have progressed one round at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday, but the 27-year-old's thoughts were in her Los Angeles home, which is threatened by wildfires. "I looked at the fire map and the fire is three blocks away from my house," said the Japanese player, who has lived in the USA since she was a child. She admitted that it was difficult to concentrate on the match against Caroline Garcia (FRA/6:3,3:6,6:3).

Osaka has an 18-month-old daughter. "I hired someone to get my daughter's birth certificate because I didn't know what would happen if the house burned down. I'm sending all my love to LA." She says it's a difficult situation for her because she has so many memories with her home there with her child. "There are so many things, keepsakes and things like that. Of course you can't have it all collected."

The two-time Melbourne winner explained that she didn't know exactly how bad the situation really was. "But I think the most important thing I'm grateful for is that everyone in my family is safe." In the match against Garcia, Osaka said her concentration was not the best. "But obviously I won, so I think it was an acceptable performance." She said she was in a kind of limbo. "But it also motivates me to hopefully stay here (in Melbourne, ed.) for as long as possible."