Naomi Osaka claims that giving up tennis during her pregnancy was surprising in some ways since it gave her a fresh outlook on life and her career and finally made her understand that she still had a secret desire to be a professional tennis player.
Osaka didn’t play much in the 2022 season either, appearing in just 11 tournaments, with her final event of the year occurring in Tokyo in September. This was after she went public with her struggles with depression and anxiety during the 2021 season and took two breaks to attend to her mental health.
It was clear then that Osaka was having trouble staying motivated, and her enthusiasm and fire for the game most likely faded. After sitting at home, Osaka had plenty of time to reflect while taking care of her pregnancy. Although she tends to overthink things and it may occasionally backfire, it worked in her favour on this particular occasion.
Osaka expressed her thoughts about it recently and said: “It forced me to see life differently. I know a lot of people probably think I retired in that year but it just made me a lot more grateful for the sport and, in turn, made me just know there are so many possibilities outside of tennis and I realized I would still love to play tennis. I’ve had this since I was little (laughing). But the people they call crazy are usually the ones who do something spectacular. My delusional trait is probably me daydreaming and inventing a scenario I want to happen and sometimes it does happen.”
She added: “I definitely would have done the tennis player thing, which is not talking to anybody, being in an extremely dark hole. Now I try to openly communicate how I feel. The biggest thing is doubt, because the only way I know how to gauge my success is through wins. And if I don’t have those, I feel like I’m not doing well. But I played some really good players so I’m hoping that the results will creep in slowly.”
Naomi Osaka in 2024
LWWWLWLWLW Currently the world no.134, the Japanese played her last match on the 13th of May when she lost to world no.8 Qinwen Zheng 6-2 6-4 in the 4th round in Rome (draw).
This season the Japanese achieved a compiled 12-9 record.
Naomi Osaka will face the world no.48 Lucia Bronzetti in the 1st round. In the past, they have never played each other as of now in top tournaments.
The Japanese won 7 titles in her career: all of them conquered on hard courts. (See the list of her titles)
Naomi Osaka |
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