Naomi Osaka conceded she found playing outside her comfort zone on clay frustrating as the world number two continues her warm-up for the French Open at the WTA tournament in Rome. Osaka has never won a tour-level event on the red dirt while at the French Open, which starts on May 30, she is yet to make it past the third round. The Japanese four-time Grand Slam champion was dumped out of the Madrid Open in the second round last week, having taken almost a month off following her quarter-final exit in Miami. 

"I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, but I'm just not that comfortable on it (clay) still, and I'm not sure if it's because I need to play longer on it or if I just haven't grown up on it," Osaka told a press conference in Rome on Sunday. Osaka has played just two matches on clay since the 2019 French Open having skipped last year's Grand Slam because of injury. "Mentally it's a bit harder because you have to structure the points differently," she continued. "There are bad bounces and stuff. I get quite frustrated. So, yeah, mentally I think it's a bit more taxing.