The first time Naomi Osaka skipped over the white Melbourne lettering on the court at the Rod Laver Arena it looked charmingly skittish.
Sometimes a racehorse sees a shadow and jumps, mistaking it for a fence. It appeared a little like that, as if she was suddenly confronted with an obstacle out of the corner of her eye and stepped to avoid it.
Then she did something even stranger as she placed a foot on Melbourne accidentally and immediately regretted it.
The first time Naomi Osaka (above) skipped over the white Melbourne lettering on the court at the Rod Laver Arena it looked charmingly skittish
She stepped back across it, then returned to her previous place, as if lifting a curse.
For an athlete returning after time out with mental health issues it was not the most reassuring sign, even if Osaka made light of it later.
Obsessive-compulsive behaviour — flicking a switch a certain number of times, avoiding cracks in the pavement — is a condition that affects around 1.2 per cent of people. A tennis player who cannot step on the white lines of a court has a problem and Osaka admitted she does not like doing that either.
Obsessive-compulsive behaviour is a condition that affects around 1.2 per cent of people. Osaka previously admitted she does not like stepping on the white lines on the court
Other athletes have superstitions - Serena Williams wears the same socks all tournament
In Melbourne, all of the markings are off limits, the lines, the logos. But Osaka has won two of the last three Australian Opens, an incredible achievement given that, as well as focusing on an opponent and marshalling her game, she has to treat the parameters of the playing surface like land mines to be negotiated.
Still, there it is. The mysterious workings of the human mind. Athletes are superstitious sorts. Serena Williams wears the same socks all tournament. Michael Jordan always had on his University of North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls kit. Goran Ivanisevic and Maria Sharapova both had white-line fever when they played tennis.
‘Honestly I’ve always been like that,’ Osaka protested. ‘Every time I’ve come here, I really don’t
