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Naomi Osaka is definitely back on the court as the four-time Grand Slam champion took to social media to reveal she played some tennis with Los Angeles Lakers star Rui Hachimura. Osaka, who announced the birth of her baby girl Shai in July, resides in Los Angeles.
Osaka and Hachimura are one of the most popular Japanese athletes and they met on a tennis court this week. In a video posted, Osaka joked about Hachimura thinking he had a point won against her. "Lil bro really thought he had it," Osaka captioned her post.
lil bro really thought he had it 😖😂 pic.twitter.com/FlxOs0U35u — NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 21, 2023
Osaka aims a major comeback
Osaka, 25, is expected to return to pro tennis at the start of the 2024 season.
In recent months, former world No 1 Osaka has made it clear several times that she wants to return to winning Grand Slams after pregnancy. During a recent appearance on the Mountaintop Conversation podcast, Osaka opened up on her perspective now that she is a mother.
"Actually, there was a lot of pressure I felt for me. For me, I always had the assumption that if you have a kid, it’s basically the end of your career. I don’t really see a lot of women on the tennis tour with kids.
They are usually a bit older, and it just seems like a very hard taxing on your body. I just never really thought if I had a kid, I’d go back on the tour. But I feel like it was a magical moment for me. It just made me think of all the things I love and appreciate and it just made me really want to work hard.
I’ve played tennis since I was three and I want to appreciate the time that I can still play. In my head, I wondered why guys younger than me or around the same age as me are able to have kids and they’re kind of just walking around like ‘Everything is fine!’.
. And it irritated me a lot because I was more accomplished than them. They weren’t dealing with any of the repercussions that women have if they need to have a kid so that kind of softened the pressure for me," Osaka said on the Mountaintop Conversation podcast.
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