Naomi Osaka has put her US Open tears down to shredded nerves and her natural awkwardness, rather than the tantrum thrown by Serena Williams that overshadowed a historic Japanese win.
The 20-year-old melted hearts when she burst into sobs as boos rang out following her emphatic 6-2, 6-4 thrashing of Williams in a controversial New York final a little over a week ago.
But Osaka has refused to blame her childhood idol, who called chair umpire Carlos Ramos a "thief" in an astonishing rant triggered by a code violation for coaching that culminated in a docked game.
"I feel like there was just a lot of emotions," Osaka said in Tokyo on Monday.
"I couldn't really pinpoint it at the time, I just felt very overwhelmed."
"I don't feel like I would've liked to savour the moment more -- I think I do things my own way and everyone is different in their own way so I don't really have any regrets."
- 'Worst speech ever' -
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However, Osaka pointed to her nervous demeanour after winning her maiden WTA title at Indian Wells in March, where she blurted out: "Hi, I'm Naomi ... this is probably going to be the worst acceptance speech of all time."
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