Naomi Osaka is Team Kendrick amid Drake feud, hopes for more tracks in Rome

ROME, Italy—When she’s not on a tennis court, Naomi Osaka is rarely seen without her Beats headphones, and the ardent music lover had plenty to say about the Kendrick Lamar-Drake feud currently flooding the airwaves.

“Music-wise, I’ve been really fed well with this Kendrick and Drake beef,” she told Prakash Amritraj in her visit to the Tennis Channel Live Desk at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

In fact, the four-time Grand Slam champion appeared far more interested in breaking down the beef than opining on what was key to her first-round victory over Clara Burel on Campo Centrale.

“You know, I’m a pacifist. I’m a neutral party,” she initially joked when asked to pick between Kendrick and Drake.

“However, Kendrick dropped some heat that last song. That last song is amazing, and I played it walking onto the court. Currently I think Kendrick’s doing a good job.”

While the feud dates back over a decade, the back-and-forth has gotten more intense in the last month, culminating in dueling diss tracks, “Not Like Us” (Kendrick) and “The Heart Part 6” (Drake).

“Technically, Kendrick dropped that song, then Drake dropped ‘The Heart Part 6’, so technically Kendrick could drop another two if he wanted to,” encouraged Osaka.

“Me being a Kendrick fan, I haven’t gotten this many Kendrick songs in a very long time! If he wants to keep dropping…”

Osaka dropped plenty of heat of her own in her first visit to the Foro Italico since giving birth to daughter Shai: she shook off a tight opening set to defeat Burel, 7-6 (2), 6-1 and book a second-round meeting with No. 19 seed Marta Kostyuk.