Naomi Osaka is expected to give birth in June or July this year and she already has big plans for her post-pregnancy tennis career.
The 25-year-old Osaka believes that six months will be enough for her to recover from childbirth and get ready for competition. Her plan is to kick off her comeback at the start of the 2024 season in Australia. The baby will not be a burden, rather, the cool mom-to-be is finding new motivation and inspiration in motherhood, as she explained in an interview with former Japanese tennis star Shuzo Matsuoka:
I’m definitely going to play better and be a better player after this. It just made me want to try harder and be the best that I can be.
The four-time Grand Slam champion revealed in the interview that her goal is to win eight more majors. Moreover, she’ll try to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Osaka’s plan may sound overly ambitious, as if she doesn’t know how demanding it is to take care of a baby. However, she’s still very young and has enough resources to get all the help she may need. We do have examples of WTA players recording big victories and even experiencing the height of their career after childbirth — Kim Clijsters, Tatjana Maria, Victoria Azarenka come to mind first.
The former world No.1 Osaka hasn’t competed since the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis in September 2022 and announced pregnancy shortly after withdrawing from the 2023 Australian Open. Her long-term boyfriend Cordae still doesn’t know the sex of the baby, as he has chosen the information to be a surprise once the baby is born, but Naomi knows whether their first child will be a boy or a girl. (source: Tennis Majors, photo: Jimmie48)
