Naomi Osaka got a wildcard to compete at Indian Wells. Her rankings have dropped out of the Top 75 after a year of dismal results. She won the tournament in 2018.

Since winning the Indian Wells title in 2018, Naomi Osaka won four grand slam titles – two Australian Open titles and two US Open titles. But since winning the 2021 Australian Open, her best grand slam result has been reaching the third round.

Naomi Osaka also took a break from the sport in 2021 for mental health reasons. She  missed Wimbledon and missed many tournaments.

Tennis can be a brutal sport. If players don’t have good results in the past 12 months, they can’t qualify for major tournaments. Either they need to go through the qualifying rounds or need a wild card from the tournament. 

Roger Federer may be playing on the tour at the moment but he is still plugged into what’s going on in the ATP tour. After Felix Auger-Aliassime won his first ATP title at Rotterdam, he received a congratulatory message from Federer.

Auger-Aliassime confirmed this during an interview on Instagram. He said

Roger [Federer] sent me a little message. He just told me in English ‘I’m happy for you, well done.’

Prior to winning the Rotterdam title, Auger-Aliassime was 0-8 in tour-level finals. In those 8 finals, he did not win a single set. With his first title, pressure is off Auger-Aliassime‘s back. 

In an interview after the win, he said:

It is definitely a dream come true. It is something I have been working for and suffering for at times because we all know my story, having lost finals before, so this one is even more special for me.