Naomi Osaka has always been introspective and reflective.
But it wasn’t until after she gave birth to her daughter, Shai, in July 2023 that she had major realizations about her self-worth, and how she sees herself both on the court and off.
During a 15-month break between September 2022 and January 2024, as the four-time Grand Slam champion was going through pregnancy, bonding with her newborn and recovering after childbirth, her relationship with tennis — and her role in it — changed.
“I’ve always constantly taken little breaks in my career, but I think my pregnancy break was the one that made me realize a lot of things about myself,” the 28-year-old told the Tennis Insider Club podcast. “For me it was really important because I didn’t see the worth I had as a human outside of tennis.
“I would lose a match and then feel like my life is meaningless … like the only value I had was winning. So I feel like I needed to take a break to discover what I’m capable of, or what I can give to the world.”
Osaka was ranked 831st in the world when she returned to the tour in Australia in January 2024, and posted a 22-17 record that season to get back into the Top 75 by year’s end.
She built on that in 2025, and though she didn’t quite return to her Grand Slam form, she made serious inroads towards the upper echelon of the sport. Buoyed by back-to-back runs to the Montreal final and US Open semifinals, Osaka returned to the Top 20 and finished the season ranked 16th. She also seemed to be reenergized by her new coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, who replaced Patrick Mouratoglou.
To check out Osaka’s full conversation with Caroline Garcia, who hosts the Tennis Insider Club podcast, click here.
AloJapan.com