Naomi Osaka secured a hard-fought straight sets win in her first match in 15 months at the Brisbane International and then revealed about the difficulty of motherhood.
Osaka was the main star at Pat Rafter Arena on New Year's Day, having accepted a wild card to play in Queensland. She played her first WTA match since September 2022 (at the Japan Open). And she was keen to ensure she never missed a beat.
The 26-year-old faced a determined challenge from World No. 83 Tamara Korpatsch, who has improved by leaps and bounds in recent months thanks to her unexpected maiden WTA title at the Tranlyvania Open last October.
While Osaka was the heavy favorite going into the match, Korpatsch provided stern resistance, particularly in the second set, when she battled back from 3-5 down to force a tiebreak. Osaka did a great job of fighting off her nerves and needed more than two bites of the cherry to close the win.
After the match, the Japanese star was asked what was easier to do in her daily life, between closing out a match or putting a newborn to sleep, and she revealed that tennis was much more manageable than changing her daughter's diapers.
"Normally, I would say closing out the match. But it was kind of tough for me today. Shai likes to fight her sleep. So I’d say preferably playing tennis over changing diapers and anything like that (smiling)."
Osaka is the latest in what is becoming a long line of WTA players taking the joyous journey to motherhood. She has previously stated how her daughter has motivated her to take the leap and make her headline-grabbing return despite entertaining the thought of retirement during her hiatus.
Osaka will now face three-time Brisbane champion Karolina Pliskova in the second round. It will be her first major test of the new season. The Czech big server leads the head-to-head 3-2 and won their last clash in Brisbane back in 2020.
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