Naomi Osaka returned to tennis after becoming a mother and it was a dream comeback at the 2024 Brisbane International against Tamara Korpatsch.
Coming back to a sport after a long time is never easy, and the former world no. 1 on the WTA Tour certainly got to know that, as she played her last match in September 2022 against Daria Saville in Tokyo.
A few months after that, Osaka announced her pregnancy, and now, 15 months after her last match, the Japanese player is back on the tennis court, competing at the 2024 Brisbane International.
The draw of the tournament was quite nice to her, as she avoided all the seeded players, taking on world no. 83, Tamara Korpatsch from Germany in the first round of the tournament.
And there was not rust palpable on Osaka, on the contrary, it seemed her opponent was a bit nervous from taking on a four-time Grand Slam champion as Osaka broke her serve in the first game of the match.
After that, she comfortably kept her advantage, and added even one more break, while losing only two points on her serve in the last three service games of the opening set, which she won 6-3.
The second set proved to be much more challenging for the two-time Australian Open winner. She was first a break down, and then, she was a break up and serving for the match at 5-3.
But maybe nervous on her comeback, Osaka didn't create any match point chances, and the second set had to be decided in a tie-break, which proved to be a real marathon.
Both players had their chances. First, Osaka had two match points, and after that, Korpatsch had two set points. But all remained unused as players switched sides at 9-9.
But Osaka then won the following two points, converting her third match point into a match win, winning the match 6-3, 7-6(9) to record her first victory as a mother.
In the second round of the tournament, the 26-year-old will take on fellow former world no. 1, Karolina Pliskova, and she was really happy to return to the court, as she disclosed afterwards.
"Felt really good. Yeah, it felt really good. Felt very happy to be back. I don't know. I haven't played in Brisbane for I guess four years or whenever last time I was here. Just happy to be back."
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