Naomi Osaka’s return to tennis is formally a go.
Osaka will return to the tennis courtroom for the Brisbane Worldwide in January, simply forward of the 2024 Australian Open. It would mark her first skilled match since September 2022.
“I’m actually enthusiastic about getting again out on courtroom and competing. I all the time love beginning my season in Brisbane and may’t wait to return,” Osaka stated in an announcement, by way of The Related Press. “It would set me up for an excellent comeback this summer time.”
Osaka gave start to her daughter, Shai, in July. Shortly afterward, she revealed plans to return to competitors on the US Open and stated that her purpose was to get again by the Australian Open — which is the place she gained two of her 4 Grand Slam titles, most lately in 2021.
She stated she began coaching after she and rapper Cordae welcomed their daughter, and she or he was even coaching a bit throughout her being pregnant.
“I’ve been watching matches, and I’ve type of wished that I used to be enjoying, too,” Osaka stated on the US Open in August. “However I’m on this place now, and I’m very grateful. I actually love my daughter lots, however I feel that actually fueled a hearth in me.”
Osaka was initially scheduled to play within the Australian Open this yr, however she withdrew from the event only a weeks earlier than it began with out cause. Days later, she revealed she was pregnant.
Osaka has vowed to compete in a busier schedule in 2024 in an effort to make up for the yr she missed. The 26-year-old has not stated what that schedule will seem like. She is at the moment ranked No. 42 on the planet.
“It is undoubtedly far more tournaments than I used to play, so I feel some individuals will probably be proud of that,” Osaka stated of her 2024 schedule in August. “It is as a result of I spotted that I do not know the way the start of the yr goes to go for me. I do not know the extent of play, and I feel that I’ve to type of ease into it. So on the very least, I’ll set myself up for an excellent finish of the yr.”
The Brisbane Worldwide will kick off Dec. 31 in Australia. Victoria Azarenka, Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov and Holger Rune are set to compete, too.
The event hasn’t been held since 2020 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. Karolina Pliskova was the final winner on the ladies’s facet, and Kei Nishikori was the final winner on the boys’s facet in 2019. The ATP dropped the occasion in favor of the ATP Cup in 2019.
