Just a little over a month after giving birth to her brand new bundle of joy with whom she shares with Cordae, Naomi Osaka announced that she is coming back to tennis.
In an interview with ESPN, she shared that she is prepping to return next year with a busy schedule ahead of her.
t’s definitely way more tournaments than I used to play,” Osaka said “So, I think some people will be happy with that.”
Osaka’s last match was the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2022. She mentioned in the conversation with the outlet that she missed the sport while she was away.
“I’ve been watching matches and I’m like, ‘I wish I was playing too,’” she recalled. “But I’m in this position now and I’m very grateful. I really love my daughter a lot, but I think it really fueled a fire in me.”
Naomi Osaka said that it was a new normal for her —being a parent.
“I definitely only know this world, the tennis world,” Osaka shared. “Just being away from that for a long time, it was new for me. I think it was just the new situation and not being able to train like I wanted to, it made me feel like I would just stay at home. … It felt like a lot of restrictions.”