(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Naomi Osaka reveals in the past she believed she would be done with pro tennis if she got pregnant. Osaka, 25, announced her pregnancy in January and gave birth to a baby girl Shai last month. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, won’t play a single tournament in 2023 but her goal is to return to action at the start of the 2024 season in Australia.
Over the last couple of months, Osaka has been speaking excitedly about her return to tennis. Just a few months ago, Osaka revealed her goal is to win at least eight more Grand Slams after returning from maternity leave. Also, Osaka said in one of her interviews that she will be extra motivated to do well because of her daughter.
Osaka: I thought my career would be over if I had a kid
“Actually, there was a lot of pressure I felt for me. For me, I always had the assumption that if you have a kid, it’s basically the end of your career. I don’t really see a lot of women on the tennis tour with kids.
They are usually a bit older, and it just seems like a very hard taxing on your body. I just never really thought if I had a kid, I’d go back on the tour. But I feel like it was a magical moment for me. It just made me think of all the things I love and appreciate and it just made me really want to work hard.
I’ve played tennis since I was three and I want to appreciate the time that I can still play. In my head, I wondered why guys younger than me or around the same age as me are able to have kids and they’re kind of just walking around like ‘Everything is fine!’.
And it irritated me a lot because I was more accomplished than them. They weren’t dealing with any of the repercussions that women have if they need to have a kid so that kind of softened the pressure for me,” Osaka said on the Mountaintop Conversation podcast, via Sportskeeda.
