Naomi Osaka’s return to majors started off sloppy, but it ended up stellar.

After winning last year’s U.S. Open crown with no fans in the stands, Osaka’s opening-round jitters were mixing with the nervous energy of playing before a buzzing, packed house. But she settled down and gave them a show, an impressive 6-4, 6-1 first-round rout Monday of Marie Bouzkova.

“Definitely I’m always the type that gets nervous, especially in Slams, especially in first rounds,” Osaka said. “The nervous energy was contradicting with the excitement that I had from being able to see a crowd in such a long time. It was definitely a weird feeling. But I was more excited than nervous in the end.

“It may have to do with my mindset change [but] I didn’t feel pressure. I felt nerves because I wanted to perform well. In my mind I told myself that if I performed well, then the outcome — even if I win or lose — should be OK.”

It was a win — her 15th straight at a hard-court major, backing up a 17-victory streak in 2018-19. The only other women with multiple 15-win runs at hard-court majors? Serena Williams, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Osaka is in august company. Her biggest challenge may be embracing that.

After having pulled out of the French Open and skipping Wimbledon — citing mental health issues — she looked like she was having fun, enjoying her tennis. It was part of that aforementioned mindset change, vowing to be less self-critical.

“I should believe more in myself,” Osaka said. “If you don’t believe in yourself, then other people won’t believe in [you]. It’s more like a realization thing.”

And in the right headspace, Osaka’s dominant talent took over, shaking off early nerves in the first set to dominate the second. She hit 34 winners, lost only six points on her dominant first serve and by the end started to find her ‘A’ game.

“I tell people that I’m a perfectionist. For me, something that’s less than perfection — even though it might be something great — is a disappointment. I don’t really think that’s a healthy way of thinking. So something that I really wanted to change,” Osaka said. “Yeah, it’s not really a tournament thing, it’s more like a life thing. I hope I can keep this mindset throughout my life going forward.”

Osaka was hardly perfect early, spraying balls and letting Bouzkova stand on — and in some cases inside — the baseline and still return her booming serve. It was knotted at 4-all before Osaka held with an ace.

A nice rally shot down the line gave Osaka set point, and her first break of the night gave her the first set. It also gave her the momentum.

Bouzkova scrapped to the end, getting to eight break points. But Osaka never let her convert a single one.

Osaka reeled off seven games in a row to take complete control. She ripped a forehand winner down the line to break and go up 2-0.

Serving with the advantage, she took long walk, taking the whole 25-second clock and icing her foe before serving out the game to go up 3-0. When it reached 5-0, the rest was a foregone conclusion.

Osaka was asked how she reconciled her seeming recent aversion to doing media interviews with her acceptance of publicity and magazine shoots.

“I really like to [do] fashion magazines. … As a tennis player, you don’t really get the chance to dress up and go on shoots like that,” Osaka said. “When you do Vogue or something, you can meet the designer or meet the head of the house. That’s a cool experience for me.

“I think press conferences like these … there are moments, especially during the Zoom calls, where I’m sitting in front of a screen taking questions. It’s really hard for me because I like to see people’s expressions, especially when someone joins a Zoom that I don’t know and they’re giving me really bad energy. I feel like I have to put multiple guards up.”