John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Deservedly No. 1 in the world at age 21, Naomi Osaka has not made it past the round of 16 in her first two tournaments wearing the crown.
After stumbling at the first hurdle in Dubai last month, she won two matches here in Indian Wells before running into Belinda Bencic.
Though it is too early to start scurrying around the halls and sounding the alarms, it is not too early to observe that Osaka is in the midst of an adjustment process that could take more time to work through than she imagined.