Naomi Osaka became a mother in July last year, which means her daughter will soon celebrate her first birthday.
Osaka shocked the world two years ago when she announced she was pregnant and paused her tennis career. It came at a time when there was a lot of anxiety about her career due to her struggles on and off the court.
The pregnancy proved a blessing in disguise for Osaka, who got time to really work on the things that bothered her and rediscover a passion for sport. She’s back to tennis now and is finding juggling her tennis career and motherhood to be an interesting challenge.
Motherhood, in general, has been a fantastic experience for her, which she repeated a few times. She’s about to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday soon, and it may be during the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
In fact, Osaka had a party early for her daughter, Shai, because her birthday will be during Wimbledon, which would make it a bit more complicated.
As she revealed at SW19, that’s why the Japanese player didn’t play in Eastbourne, even though she was slated to appear at the WTA 500 event. The former world no. 1 also revealed that her daughter will receive a cake on her actual birthday in London.
“She actually had a really big celebration a week or so ago. That’s one of the things that I didn’t want to miss, so that’s kind of why I didn’t play in Eastbourne.”
“Just because I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s first birthday party. And then, she’s going to have like a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy big event.”
Osaka’s experience mirrors that of other mothers on the WTA Tour, who are all enjoying it. As Andy Murray said in the past, it’s great because it will comfort other players who will also want to become mothers in the future.