Naomi Osaka announced on Thursday that she will return to professional tennis when she competes in the Brisbane Internationals in December and January.
Osaka has not played on the tour since the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2022, shortly after she lost in the first round of the US Open. In January, shortly after withdrawing from the 2022 Australian Open, Osaka announced that she was pregnant with her boyfriend, rapper Cordae.
On July 13, Naomi Osaka gave birth to her daughter Shai.
Osaka has played just one match in more than two years. She will return at the Brisbane International, a warm-up event before the Australian Open, and said she plans to return shortly after giving birth in July.
When Osaka steps onto the court in Brisbane, it will be her first international tennis match as a new mother.
One of Osaka’s leading role models, Serena Williams, experienced the same thing back in March 2018. That’s when Williams returned to tennis after giving birth to her first child, daughter Alexis Olympia, on Sept. 17. January 2017.
In Williams’ first official match since her return, she defeated Kazakhstan’s Zarina Dia at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round. Sri Lanka. Later that May, Williams won the French Open at Roland Garros, defeating No. 70 Kristina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7–6 (4), 6–4. First Grand Slam title after giving birth.
“Well, my priority is Olympia. That’s my priority no matter what. I’ve given a lot to tennis and tennis has actually given me a lot and I’m very grateful,” Williams told reporters after the game . “She is my priority and everything I do revolves around her.”
Other female tennis players who have made a triumphant return to tennis after giving birth include Bella Rose’s Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka gave birth to her child in 2016 and returned to tennis the following year and reached the U.S. Open final, where she ironically lost to Osaka.
Belgian women’s tennis star Kim Clijsters retired in 2007 at the age of 23 to marry and have a daughter, but later returned to competition in 2009. That year, Kim Clijsters won her second U.S. Open title as an unranked player in just her third match back on the court, before winning again in 2010.
Clijsters is tied with Margaret Court for the most Grand Slam singles titles won by a mother.
Court became the first player to win a Grand Slam in singles after becoming a mother in 1973. She was a 21-time Grand Slam champion before giving birth to her first child, Daniel Court, in 1972. She returned to win three singles titles. The following year she won Grand Slams at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open, bringing her total to 24 matches. She then took another maternity leave in 1974 for her second child, Marika, and continued to compete until her retirement in 1977.