World No. 2 Naomi Osaka has said that she has not had fun playing tennis since she won the Australian Open in January.
Osaka lost in straight sets 7-6, 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in July, becoming the first No. 2 seed to lose in the opening round of the competition since Martina Hingis of Switzerland in 2001.
Osaka, 21, had suffered a dip in form prior to the tournament, having lost her title as world No. 1 title to Ashleigh Barty of Australia in June, following her defeat in the third round of the French Open at Roland Garros.
"The last few months have been really tough for me tennis wise," Osaka tweeted. "I'm finally coming to terms with that while relearning that fun feeling."
"I've put so much weight on the results of my matches instead of learning from them, which is what I 'normally' do."
The Japanese star shot to prominence with two consecutive Grand Slam wins, winning U.S Open in September 2018 with a straight sets win over Serena Williams, before taking the Australian Open in January, beating Petra Kvitova in the final in Melbourne.
Osaka also left her post-match news conference following her defeat at the All England Club, saying that she felt like she was "about to cry."
Osaka -- who split with her coach Sascha Bajin immediately following the Australian Open -- said that she is thankful for the people around her, admitting, "whenever things go wrong I blame myself 100 percent.
"Unexpectedly, though, the worst months of my life have also had some of the best moments cause I've met new people and been able to do things that I've never even considered doing before."
Osaka is not competing in this week's Citi Open, with the player set to defend her US Open title when the tournament begins on Aug. 26 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.