Following a 15-month hiatus from tennis and embracing new motherhood, four-time Grand Slam champion and very different Naomi Osaka is gearing up to make a triumphant return to the sport at the Brisbane International tournament. Since giving birth to her daughter Shai, which means “gift” in Hebrew, Osaka revealed how her journey to motherhood unlocked a gift within her in a recent cover interview for InStyle.
“It was life-changing in a day,” Osaka told InStyle. “From the moment that you come back home from the hospital, everything’s different.”
“She has completely changed since having a baby,” said Carly Duguid, Osaka’s creative director, who manages and directs the tennis star’s brands. “[…] She’s more motivated now than I’ve ever seen her. I think that has a lot to do with just having your own child, and wanting to excel, and to have someone who looks up to her.”
Opening up about the unspoken challenges of pregnancy, Osaka admitted how “rough” carrying a child can be — and the times she “freaked out a little bit.” While pregnant with her now 5-month-old child, the tennis star not only tested positive for Group B streptococcus, a bacterial infection common among pregnant women, but she was also processing news of the passing of Tori Bowie, a three-time U.S. Olympic champion who was found dead while eight months pregnant. Despite facing the nerve-wracking realities of Black maternal mortality rates, Osaka managed to find empowerment in her labor journey.
“I do remember feeling in that moment,” doctors told her to push, Osaka said, “This is the worst pain of my life, and I know that if I get through this, then everything else will feel very easy.”
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Transitioning into motherhood, the 26-year-old shared that she used her time away from tennis to reconnect with herself and her passions beyond the sport. In recent years, Osaka has built a name for herself on and off the court, leading companies like Kinló, a skincare brand, Evolve, a talent company, creative agency Hana Kuma, and Play Academy, a sports program for youth in Haiti, Japan and Los Angeles. In addition to dedicating more time to these projects, Osaka picked up hobbies like journaling, sketching fashion looks, hiking, and meditating.
“Moms are superheroes,” she noted. “But they’re also people.”
“I’ve stepped away from tennis before,” she added, “but this time, it was the longest duration of my life. And I think it kind of gave me a perspective like, ‘Hey, you’re not going to play tennis forever. And you kind of have to cherish the years that you can play.’ I do want to be a good role model for Shai, and I want her to see that this was an important chapter in my life.”
With plans to return to tennis before the new year at the Brisbane International tournament in Australia, Osaka has found a balance between raising her daughter and rigorous training. According to her coach, Wim Fissette, the tennis star is less concerned about her comeback and more focused on seeing “how good she can possibly be.” Between waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning to feed Shai, doing at least six hours of training and dedicating time to her business ventures, Osaka’s coach says the star is learning to appreciate and utilize every minute of the day.
“I’m fortunate to have the support to go back to work on my own terms, in my own time,” said Osaka. “So many American parents don’t have that choice, but we all deserve it.”
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