NEW YORK (AP) — So much has happened for Naomi Osaka — in tennis, away from tennis — since she first played Coco Gauff at the U.S. Open back in 2019.
Over that time, Osaka has won two Grand Slam trophies to raise her career total to four, helped spark a global conversation about mental health by revealing she felt anxiety and depression, taken a series of breaks from the tour and become a mother.
The Gauff vs. Osaka matchup in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Monday serves as both a reminder — to them, to others — of that night six years ago, as well as all that's transpired since.
“Just to be at this point of my life and to be playing her again," Osaka said, "is, honestly, for me ... kind of special.”
Osaka was 21 and the reigning champion at the U.S. Open and Australian Open; Gauff was 15 and playing in only her second Grand Slam tournament and first in New York. Osaka won in straight sets in Arthur Ashe Stadium, but what was most memorable was what happened after the last point.
Gauff was crying, and Osaka walked over to console her and suggest that she address the crowd — highly unusual for the loser of a match. But Osaka knew the fans would want to hear from the young American who already was showing signs of becoming the star she is today.
“I remember it was a tough moment for me, because it was a hyped-up match. I remember looking back at it. I guess I put way too much pressure on myself thinking I maybe had a chance in that moment to actually do something, which I definitely did," Gauff said Saturday, "but I think it was just I felt more expectation that I should, than maybe belief.”
Osaka recalls recognizing how much talent and poise Gauff possessed for such a young player.
“I thought she just handled herself really well,” said Osaka, who is seeded 23rd at Flushing Meadows and recently began working with Iga Swiatek's former coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, “and I knew she was going to be back there.”
After winning the U.S. Open again in 2020, Osaka triumphed at the Australian Open in January 2021. At the next Grand Slam tournament, she pulled out before her second-round match and explained the off-court struggles she had been dealing with, then took the first of a handful of mental health breaks.
The Australian Open, 4 1/2 years ago, was the last major where Osaka made it to the fourth round until now. She was off the tour for part of that stretch while on maternity leave.
On Saturday, she spoke about “the journey getting back here.”
“I just feel happy,” said Osaka, 27, “because I feel like all of my hard work is amounting to something.”
Gauff, now 21, won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the French Open this June and is seeded No. 3 in New York while working with a biomechanics expert to retool her problematic serve.
“Naomi and I, we aren’t super close or anything, but we’re definitely friendly with each other. I support her from afar in all the things that she’s done on and off the court,” Gauff said.
“It would be a cool kind of deja vu-type of situation,” she said, guessing that this rematch will be in Ashe, too, “but hopefully it will be a different result.”
Coco Gauff, of the United States, reacts after winning a point during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Naomi Osaka, of Japan, reacts to a point against Daria Kasatkina, of Australia, during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
FILE - Coco Gauff, right, of the United States, wipes away tears while talking to Naomi Osaka, of Japan, after Osaka defeated Gauff in the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying urns with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The shoes of Cuban soldiers clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, with the urns and placed them on a long table next to the pictures of those slain so people could pay their respects.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.
Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
The official announcer indicated that they were “combatants” who had been “wounded” in Venezuela. They were greeted by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.
Those injured and the bodies of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and U.S., with President Donald Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb as commander of Cuba's Armed Forces, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those slain looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casa said Venezuela was not a distant land for those killed, but a “natural extension of their homeland.”
“The enemy speaks to an audience of high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy,” Álvarez said in apparent reference to the U.S. “We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother.”
Álvarez called those slain “heroes,” saying that they were example of honor and “a lesson for those who waver.”
“We reaffirm that if this painful chapter of history has demonstrated anything, it is that imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Thousands of Cubans lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” said Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, adding that she hopes no one invades given the ongoing threats.
When asked why she showed up despite the difficulties Cubans face, Gómez replied, "It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel — ranging in age from 26 to 60 — who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island’s two security agencies.
Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Meanwhile, a demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.
“People are upset and hurt. There’s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders living in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes returning to their island.
In December 1989, officials organized “Operation Tribute” to honor the remains of more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
A day before the remains of those slain arrived in Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $3 million in relief aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa, which struck in late October.
The first flight took off from Florida on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
“We have taken extraordinary measures to ensure that this assistance reaches the Cuban people directly, without interference or diversion by the illegitimate regime,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. government was working with Cuba's Catholic Church.
The announcement riled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
“The U.S. government is exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes,” he said in a statement. “As a matter of principle, Cuba does not oppose assistance from governments or organizations, provided it benefits the people and the needs of those affected are not used for political gain under the guise of humanitarian aid.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
