Naomi Osaka isn’t looking back
The four-time Grand Slam champ reflects on rejecting the comeback label, building community and growing into a different version of herself.
For much of the past two years, Naomi Osaka’s story has been viewed through the lens of a single word: comeback.
It’s an easy narrative. She stepped away from tennis, became a mother, returned to the tour and is once again climbing toward the top of the game. But it’s one she increasingly rejects.
Ahead of the Mubadala DC Open, Osaka explained that she has never quite connected with the language surrounding her return. Saying she dislikes it would be too harsh, she said, because she’s “grateful for people even thinking about” her, but the suggestion that she’s trying to become the player she once was doesn’t square with reality.
“When I think of coming back, it kind of washes away the whole process,” she said. “Also, what am I coming back to, you know?”
The Naomi Osaka who arrived in Washington this week doesn’t feel like she’s chasing a previous version of herself.
Keep reading for Osaka's candid reflections on her Wimbledon run, why she doesn’t feel like she’s making a "comeback," and how fashion has helped her break out of her shell.
