Fresh off ascending to the peak of the tennis world, Naomi Osaka awkwardly walked up to the microphone.
"Hello!" she said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "Public speaking isn't really my strong side. I just hope I can get through this."
But what else was she going to say? After the controversy of her first Grand Slam final—and the ugliness of the boos at her first trophy presentation—her tennis spoke for her in the grueling 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 match she won over Petra Kvitova. Osaka survived a nervy implosion in the second set and won the first and third ones with polished brilliance.