Naomi Osaka Announces Pregnancy And Tennis Break
Written by djfrosty on January 12, 2023
Source: Raymond Hall / Getty
After withdrawing from the upcoming Australian Open, Naomi Osaka announced that she was expecting her first child with boyfriend Cordae.
On Wednesday (Jan. 11), the tennis star shared a statement in Japanese and English through social media accompanied by a photo of an ultrasound with the caption, “Can’t wait to get back on the court but here’s a little life update for 2023.” In the statement shared from her notes app, the four-time Grand Slam champion said: “These few months away from the sport has really given me a new love and appreciation for the game I’ve dedicated my life to.”
She continued: “I realize that life is so short, and I don’t take any moments for granted, every day is a new blessing and adventure. I know that I have so much to look forward to in the future, one thing I’m looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, ‘that’s my mom’, haha. 2023 will be a year that’ll be full of lessons for me, and I hope I’ll see you guys in the start of the next one cause I’ll be at Aus 2024.” Osaka signed off, “Love you all infinitely.”
Osaka withdrew from this year’s Australian Open, an event she has won twice in her career. She has been highly open about her mental health struggles in the past, at one point taking an indefinite break from tennis in 2021. The 25-year-old only played 11 tournaments in 2022 and hadn’t played a full match since the U.S. Open last August. Off the court, she’s been busy as the highest-paid female athlete, which included starting her own talent agency last year which signed Nick Krygios as a client.
She has been dating Cordae since 2019, with the rapper being a prominent fixture by her side since. Osaka dedicated a loving post of acknowledgment after her 2020 U.S. Open finals win, expressing how he dropped everything to support her even though she was “still convinced he doesn’t understand the rules of tennis lol.”