“Great Shift Overnight”: Naomi Osaka on Her First Victory Following Her Return from Maternity Leave

When things become hard on the court, Naomi Osaka’s motherhood has given her a different perspective.

The four-time major champion defeated Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 7-6 (9) on Monday at the Brisbane International after being broken when serving to force a tiebreaker that required three match chances. This was her first competitive match since September 2022.

After withdrawing from the Australian Open the previous year, Osaka made her pregnancy public. In July, she gave birth to a baby named Shai in Los Angeles with rapper Cordae, her boyfriend.

Regarding her comeback to the tour as a mother, the once-number-one ranked Osaka said, “It’s a big change overnight.” “I really like it because, in a sense, I feel that Shai has assisted me in maturing rapidly.

“Away from the court, I’m more conscious of people and I value everyone much more, including my rivals,” the player said. “It just helps me be stronger and stay in the moment more on the court.”

She remained cool and concentrated on giving herself another chance each time she lost a chance to win the match on Monday.

“I felt extremely anxious the entire time,” Osaka said. I had the impression that Shai was observing me. I wanted to give her all I had.

“I’m conscious of my playing because I want to set a good example for my kid. I believe I’m essentially trying to be the same old me apart from that.

Osaka has only participated in one competitive match prior to Monday, the first day of 2024, after her first-round loss at the 2022 U.S. Open.

But she’s been preparing for her homecoming for months, and part of that preparation has been refocusing on present-moment life.

She said to the Pat Rafter Arena audience, “I didn’t return as much love as I was given the last couple of years that I played before I had my daughter.” Thus, I firmly believe that’s what I should do in this chapter.

She is, of course, focusing more on the younger members of the audience.

She said during a press conference after the game, “I guess like towards the end when I was signing autographs, I was more aware of kids.” “Now that I’m a mother, too, I see them differently because I can envision Shai at that age.”

In the second round, Osaka will take on three-time Brisbane International winner and another former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

Due to the continuous rain, matches on outdoor courts had to be canceled, forcing them to take place inside the main stadium.

In the men’s draw, Australian Max Purcell was defeated 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 by first seed Holger Rune, while Andy Murray was defeated 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 by second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in a two and a half-hour encounter.

Roman Safiullin defeated third-seeded American Ben Shelton, 21, who advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals the previous year, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Despite being rated 39th, 26-year-old Safiullin defeated Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev in the previous year.

One of the major warm-up matches for the Australian Open, which gets underway in Melbourne on January 14, is the Brisbane International.