ROME, Italy - What's one thing Naomi Osaka needs to make herself love Europe's terre battue?

Time. 

"I feel like if I had more matches and I kind of understood the clay better, then probably [I could play well on it]," she told reporters after defeating former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

"I feel like everyone has had a lot more experience than me on clay, so, hopefully, I'll just keep playing on it and see what happens."

Though she reached the third round of the French Open on her debut in 2016, the 20-year-old from Japan is still learning the intricacies of the crushed brick. 

After all, Monday's victory was her first on European red clay this season after a first-round loss to Zhang Shuai in Madrid, and just her ninth-ever WTA main draw match on red clay. 

"Sometimes I stick my foot out to slide, and I just fall," Osaka said. "Little things like that. There's different clay courts, so one can be faster and one can be slower. I think just finding out how to figure out the difference between them.

"On clay, sometimes it's like -- like there could be a hole or whatever, and then other times, you could just stop suddenly. On hard, I know the distance I'm gonna slide; but on clay, I'm not really sure."

"I don't really know how to explain it, but I'm not really that comfortable on clay yet. I know there's a lot of people that grew up on red clay, so just hopefully to be on the level of comfort as them."

Another thing Osaka has had to find comfort with is the increased attention surrounding her following her triumph in at the Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells - which made her the youngest champion in the desert since Ana Ivanovic (20 years, 138 days) raised the trophy exactly a decade ago in 2008.

After reaching the third round at the Volvo Car Open where she fell to eventual runner-up Julia Goerges, Osaka returned home, and later headed to Japan to help her country clinch a spot in the 2019 Fed Cup World Group II with a 3-2 victory over visiting Great Britain.

"I went home after Charleston and then played Fed Cup, which was really awesome. I think the atmosphere was something that I've never experienced before - then went to Croatia and trained really hard, and then Madrid, but that didn't really go that well," she said.

"I stayed home, played a lot of video games, went to Japan, hung out with one of my friends, like legit my only friend (laughter). [Coach] Sascha [Bajin] was making us go to all the places and stuff, and we went on a boat, and it was really fun."

That attention's come from compatriots in more than one arena, it seems, and the 20-year-old recounted her efforts to get to know a high-profile compatriot - ATP World No.24 and former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori - this clay-court season. 

"I want to feel like I'm friends with Kei. I'm not really sure if he thinks I'm his friend," Osaka said. "He's really -- like, he's a really, really nice guy. It really surprises me how nice he is. I had dinner with Kei and Miyu Kato, and basically, it was them trying to talk to me and I'm just giving like the one-word replies.

"In Madrid, the dinner starts really late and I'm an early sleeper, so I was like sleepy halfway through the dinner. I went with my physio, and she was like poking me. She was like, 'Wake up!'"

A week later, Osaka certainly wasn't sleepy in her opening round win against the former World No.1, as she handed Azarenka just the eighth bagel set of the two-time Australian Open champion's career in a 74-minute first round encounter. 

But up next for the rising star - and rising friend of clay courts - is a player who's certainly shown she loves the clay: two-time French Open runner-up and World No.1 Simona Halep.