"Anyone put their heart on their sleeve and fight harder than Andy Murray?" - Naomi Osaka's response to the Brit raving about her tennis
Naomi Osaka and former World No. 1 Andy Murray sent Twitter into meltdown with their latest exchange on the micro-blogging site on Wednesday.
Murray began the conversation with a tweet as Osaka played out her second-round match against Madison Brengle. The Brit engaged his fans by asking them whether any player had cleaner groundstrokes than the Japanese.
"Anyone hit the ball cleaner from the baseline than Osaka?" Murray asked his fans, followed by a fire emoji.
Osaka, who won her second-round outing against Brengle in straight sets, quote-tweeted Murray's question a few hours later and asked her Twitter followers whether they had seen any player fight harder than Murray.
"Anyone put their heart on their sleeve and fight harder than Andy Murray?" the Japanese wrote.
🏾
twitter.com/andy_murray/st…
Anyone put their heart on their sleeve and fight harder than @andy_murray ? 🥺🙏🏾🔥 twitter.com/andy_murray/st…
The Japanese star's fans unanimously agreed that no player could match the fighting spirit shown by Murray in the last few years, while expressing their delight at the two players' wholesome exchange on social media.
Osaka has been in stunning form at the Melbourne Slam so far, beating Camila Osorio and Madison Brengle convincingly in straight sets. The Japanese will next face USA's Amanda Anisimova for a place in the second week of the 2022 Australian Open.
Murray, for his part, overcame 21st-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in five tough sets during his first-round match in Melbourne on Tuesday. It should be noted that the Brit had almost retired due to a hip injury after losing a five-set epic to eventual quarterfinalist Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Major three years ago.
Murray's comeback on the ATP tour has been marked with resilience. The Brit has been trying to get into a winning rhythm ever since last year and has bounced back from one tough loss after another during this period.
The 34-year-old has his work cut out at this year's Australian Open, and will need to get the better of Japan's Taro Daniel if he wants to go deeper in the men's singles draw.
A fan suggests Aslan Karatsev hits cleaner groundstrokes than Naomi Osaka
Andy Murray's fans had an interesting discourse on the three-time Major winner's original tweet. A follower named "besh8ten" claimed that Aslan Karatsev perhaps had even cleaner strokes than Osaka, an answer which was acknowledged by many fans including Murray himself.
"Karatsev is one I can think of but he is more error prone," the fan wrote.
"Good shout," Murray replied.
@andy_murray @naomiosaka Karatsev is one I can think of but he is more error prone
@besh8ten @naomiosaka Good shout
One of his followers also argued that most ATP players hit cleaner shots than the 24-year-old Japanese, who has one of the most tactically sound groundstrokes on the WTA tour. The tweet, however, was immediately shot down by the three-time Major winner.
"Yeah, pretty much all male tennis players?" one of Murray's followers wrote.
"This is not true," Murray replied.
@andy_murray @naomiosaka Yeah. Pretty much all male tennis players?
@CharlesDrumley @naomiosaka This is not true 🙂