- Naomi Osaka shared Wednesday that she plans to make her return to professional tennis in 2024.
- The four-time Grand Slam champion took a break before giving birth to her daughter this summer.
NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka is ready to return to professional tennis.
The four-time Grand Slam champion stepped away from the sport in the fall of 2022 after a first-round exit from that summer's US Open and a Round of 16 loss at Tokyo's Pan Pacific Open in September. And shortly after she withdrew from the 2023 Australian Open in January, Osaka announced that she was pregnant with her first child.
Now, just two months after giving birth to her daughter, Shai, Osaka says her comeback to the court will feature "way more tournaments than I used to play" — including a trip to the 2024 Australian Open.
"I've been watching matches and I'm like, 'I wish I was playing too,'" the 25-year-old told ESPN Wednesday. "But I'm in this position now and I'm very grateful."
"I really love my daughter a lot," she said, but the break from tennis "has really fueled a fire in me."
For much of the 2021 season, Osaka said she struggled with her mental health while traveling for competitions. Such challenges included expressing regret over a loss for Japan at the Olympics, dealing with self-criticism that she is "never good enough," and, controversially, withdrawing from a Grand Slam competition to focus on her well-being after being fined $15,000 for declining to speak to the media.
Then, after her exit from the 2021 US Open, she announced through tears that she'd be taking an indefinite break from tennis. She returned for three of the four Grand Slams the following season, and despite her hiatus ahead of the 2022 campaign, she said "my head is still, like, everywhere" following her first-round loss in Flushing Meadows that August.
But when she and legendary Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps spoke at a 2023 US Open Forum called "Mental Health and Sport: Why It Matters" earlier in the day Wednesday, Osaka confirmed her extended break to have a baby "really raised my love for the sport."
"It made me realize I'm not going to play forever," Osaka said. "I have to embrace the times. I've been playing tennis since I was three."
Before stepping away, Osaka recalls watching tennis stars like Serena and Venus Williams — Serena retired at 39 years old, while Venus continues to compete into her 40s — and thinking "no way I will ever play at their age." But after taking some time away from the sport, she hinted that she's had a change of heart.
"Sitting here, I'm like, 'You know what? I might do that actually,'" Osaka said with a smile.
"I don't think I can predict what I'll do — I never am able to do that," she added later. "But it definitely made me appreciate a lot of things that I took for granted."