CNN
—
Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka intends to return to skilled tennis in 2024, the 25-year-old mentioned in an interview with ESPN on Wednesday.
The four-time main champion – who welcomed a child woman in July along with her boyfriend, rapper Cordae – mentioned she plans to play a busy schedule subsequent yr.
“It’s undoubtedly far more tournaments than I used to play,” Osaka instructed ESPN. “So, I feel some individuals will likely be proud of that.”
“I feel it’s as a result of I noticed that I don’t know the way the start of the yr goes to go for me. I don’t know the extent of play and I feel I’ve to ease into it. So on the very least, I’m going to set myself up for an excellent finish of the yr,” Osaka mentioned.
Osaka, who has not performed for the reason that Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2022, has beforehand mentioned she deliberate to return to tennis in 2024 for the Australian Open, a event she has received on two earlier events.
Osaka was requested if her break from tennis made her miss it, to which she responded “undoubtedly.”
“I’ve been watching matches and I’m like, ‘I want I used to be enjoying too,’” Osaka mentioned. “However I’m on this place now and I’m very grateful. I actually love my daughter so much, however I feel it actually fueled a fireplace in me.”
Osaka took a while away from aggressive tennis and made a number of extremely publicized disclosures about her struggles with psychological well being following an incident in 2021, the place she was visibly harassed and emotional whereas addressing the media throughout a compulsory information convention at Roland Garros.
She subsequently pulled out of the French Open that yr and revealed she had “suffered lengthy bouts of melancholy” since successful her first main championship in 2018.
Osaka was in attendance on the US Open in New York on Wednesday. She additionally participated the identical day in a discussion board on psychological well being on the USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart, joined by USA Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, US Surgeon Basic Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Brian Hainline, chairman of the US Tennis Affiliation’s board and NCAA chief medical officer.
Osaka mentioned she realized so much from speaking about her experiences with psychological well being and changing into an advocate for psychological well being consciousness.
“I really feel like I’m somebody that’s studying on a regular basis. Clearly, I realized so much from the discuss as I used to be speaking,” Osaka mentioned. “I might say my position is simply elevating consciousness and letting individuals know that they’re not alone.
“Bodily ache and psychological ache are kind of the identical to me. We’ve medical doctors for bodily well being however once we speak about psychological well being it’s not as effectively obtained, so simply elevating consciousness on that.”
She was additionally requested about her feedback beforehand that she felt “lonely” whereas she was pregnant.
“I undoubtedly solely know this world, the tennis world,” Osaka mentioned. “Simply being away from that for a very long time, it was new for me. I feel it was simply the brand new state of affairs and never with the ability to practice like I needed to, it made me really feel like I might simply keep at dwelling. … It felt like numerous restrictions.”