Tennis icon Kim Clijsters is “ready for another mum” to win a Grand Slam title as she backed Naomi Osaka for glory at the US Open.
Former world No 1 Osaka is the 23rd seed at the US Open this year, the first time she has been seeded at a major since the 2022 Australian Open.
The Japanese is a two-time champion in both New York and Melbourne, with her most recent Grand Slam title coming at the 2021 Australian Open.
After taking time away from the game due to her mental health, Osaka then missed the 2023 season due to pregnancy, giving birth to her daughter, Shai, in July 2023.
The four-time Grand Slam champion has recently found her best form since she returned to tour at the start of 2024, reaching the Canadian Open final earlier this month.
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff are the most common picks to lift the women’s singles title in New York this year.
However, Osaka has been tipped by many as one to watch due to her recent return to form.
And Clijsters, who remains the most recent player to win a Grand Slam title as a mother, believes the Japanese can join her in an exclusive club.
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Speaking on Tennis Channel, the former world No 1 revealed her picks to triumph at the final major of 2025.
She said: “I’m going to go with maybe something different from what I think everybody else says: I’m going to go for Naomi Osaka, for the title.
“Maybe I’m ready for another mum to win. But, I believe she’s playing so much better, and she’s doing well, so I think on the women’s side, Naomi is going to win.
“On the men’s side, I’m going to go with [Jannik] Sinner.”
A four-time Grand Slam champion much like Osaka, Clijsters won three of her four Grand Slam titles post-motherhood.
After triumphing at the 2005 US Open, the Belgian retired and welcomed daughter Jada in 2008, before a sudden comeback in 2009.
Clijsters won the 2009 US Open title in just her third tournament back and defended the title in 2010, before her last Grand Slam victory at the 2011 Australian Open.
Prior to Clijsters, it had been almost three decades since a woman had won a major title as a mother.
The first woman in the Open Era to do so was Margaret Court, who won three Grand Slam titles in 1973, before Evonne Goolagong’s victories at the (Dec) 1977 Australian Open and 1980 Wimbledon Championships.
It has now been 14 years since Clijsters’ Australian Open triumph and, with a growing number of mums on tour, all eyes are on whether anyone can follow in her footsteps.
The closest anyone has come since the Belgian was Serena Williams, who lost four Grand Slam finals following her return from maternity leave in 2018, and Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Osaka in the 2020 US Open final after welcoming her son in 2016.
No woman since Azarenka in 2020 has reached a Grand Slam final as a mother, though Tatjana Maria, Elina Svitolina, and Belinda Bencic have all reached semi-finals.
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