Naomi Osaka denied mounting speculation on social media suggesting that she was pregnant and briefly shared details of a "traumatic" experience when she delivered her first child.
Last year, Osaka announced the bittersweet news of her pregnancy. She was forced to put her career on pause just when the 2023 season kicked off in Australia and had to withdraw from the first major of the season.
In early July, Osaka gave birth to a baby girl named Shai by her and her current partner, the American rapper Cordae. Just days after childbirth, the Japanese star was back in training to prepare for her comeback on the WTA Tour.
Unfortunately for Osaka, she could not return in the second half of the season and started planning for 2024. When she returned to Brisbane this season, Osaka ended a nearly 15-month hiatus and secured an emotional first win since September 2022 by beating Tamara Korpatsch.
Ahead of the 2024 US Open, one of Osaka's videos on TikTok, where her choice of clothing accentuated her midriff, made one fan believe she "was expecting again."
However, Osaka responded to the comment in a separate video on the same platform where she has amassed over 400,000 followers to deny it. She explained that if she intended to get pregnant, she wouldn't have "many more" children, as the fan indicated.
"I just wanna say, I'm not preggos, but if I was, I wouldn't want many more, because giving birth was traumatic. But thank you, though, for your blessings."
Osaka has been candid about her first pregnancy experience during an interview with InStyle late last year, in which she can vividly remember how painful it was.
"I do remember feeling in that moment, 'This is the worst pain of my life. And I know that if I get through this, then everything else will feel very easy."
Osaka's form has been hit-and-miss for most of 2024, during which she had committed to playing a lot of tennis. She's made sporadic progress, like cutting her ranking from the start of the year by 700 spots.
She is back in the world's Top 100, attaining a post-Cincinnati ranking of No. 85. Osaka has been named as the recipient of a wild card at this year's US Open, where she will make her return to New York as a competitor after watching the 2023 edition from the stands.
The former World No. 1 has won the US Open twice in her career but has not advanced beyond the third-round stage at any Grand Slam since capturing the 2021 Australian Open.
Osaka has compiled an 18-16 record for the season and has failed to notch back-to-back wins in each of her last five tournaments, including the Olympics.
Her most recent appearance was in Cincinnati, where she had to earn a main draw berth through qualifying but lost to Ashlyn Krueger. She will head to the US Open, having played four warm-up matches. Whether that is sufficient for her to find her rhythm remains to be seen.
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