Osaka leaves WTA Finals debut with losses and lessons

Noami Osaka arrived in Singapore for her debut hoping to finish her stellar 2018 season with an exclamation point. She had a fair shot of winning the whole thing, given her US Open title and her strong results all fall season.

Instead, the 21-year-old dropped her first two matches in three sets, to Sloane Stephens and Angelique Kerber. Then on Friday, she retired with a left leg injury while down a set to Kiki Bertens.

Still, all week long, the Japanese star has stayed positive. She was grateful for her many fans:

Her presence in Asia brought on a storm of extra media attention and fan love:

And she tried to learn from her matches, particularly the 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Kerber:

When all was said and done, she had a lot to be proud of:

Her coach Sascha Bajin agreed:

Osaka ends the year having reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 and two titles—the US Open and her first-ever WTA title in Indian Wells.