FILE–Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts after losing a point against American Coco Gauff during their women’s singles match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on October 1, 2024. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka says she won’t “hang out” in tennis if her results don’t meet her high expectations.
The 27-year-old Japanese player will play her first match since injuring her back at the China Open in October at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland on Monday.
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Osaka told a pre-tournament news conference in Auckland on Sunday that she was “humbled” by her form in 2024 in which she resumed her professional career after a nearly 15-month break for the birth of her first child. She finished the season ranked 58th.
“I don’t think I’m the type of player who would hang around,” Osaka told reporters. “I have a lot of respect for all the players on tour, but at the point in my life I’m at right now, if I don’t get above a certain ranking, I don’t see myself playing for a while.
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“I’d rather spend time with my daughter if I’m not where I think I should be and where I feel I can be.”
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Osaka had a 22-17 win-loss record in singles play in 2024, reaching the quarterfinals in Doha and s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
“I think 2024 has humbled me, but I also feel like I’ve grown a lot,” she said. “I worked a lot harder than ever before. So, I guess it was very painful to not get the results I wanted, but I feel like I’m growing and learning and I’m really excited for this year (2025).
“I played very good matches. People still talk to me about my Iga match (Swiatek) at Roland Garros (lost 7-6 1-6 7-5). So I’m happy that I was able to give people memories as well.
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“Even though I got injured in Beijing, which was my last tournament, I’m pretty optimistic about how this match would have gone (against Coco Gauff) and I’m excited to play on hard court again.”
Osaka won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021 and the US Open in 2018 and 2020. She says she still has a deep love for tennis, despite recent injury-related setbacks.
“I’ve been playing tennis since I was three, and I owe a lot of that to my parents, but I never really saw my life doing anything else,” she said. “Then when I sat there and had the opportunity to do something else, I realized I would rather play tennis.
“So it was one of those moments of realization where you feel like you think you’re obligated to do something, but actually you really love it.”
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Osaka will face Israeli Lina Glushko in the first round of the ASB Classic.
