NAOMI OSAKA will plummet down the rankings after an early end to the defence of her Australian Open title today, but she heads home feeling positive about her future in the sport.

Osaka was beaten 4-6 6-3 7-6 (5) in the third round by a stunning performance from young US star Amanda Anisimova at Melbourne Park.

When the rankings are updated a week on Monday, Osaka will find herself outside the top 80, but, after only returning to the match court this month following a break to take care of her mental health, what matters most to the four-time grand slam champion is perspective.

And Osaka found plenty to be happy about on that score, saying: “I fought for every point. I can’t be sad about that. I’m not God. I can’t win every match.

“So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s really special and I can’t think of myself to try to win the grand slam at the start of the year every time.

“I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last [grand slam] match that I played in New York, I think I had a completely different attitude so, of course, I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”