Naomi Osaka Reveals Rare Behind the Scenes Look at Motherhood in Tokyo

The athlete recently shared outtakes from her well-deserved time away from the tennis court.

Naomi Osaka / Robert Prange/Getty Images

It’s not quite the tennis off-season yet, but Naomi Osaka is enjoying some well-deserved time off in Tokyo.

For the Japanese professional tennis player, the 2024 season has been one of rebuilding. She spent all of 2023 on maternity leave while pregnant with her daughter, Shai, who was born in July of that year. Returning to the court for the first time in over a year in January, Osaka made it clear that she had big ambitions for her comeback. In many ways, she knew it would be an uphill battle, but she was determined.

Her daughter gave her a new source of motivation. On multiple occasions, she has made it clear that her desire to return to tennis so quickly after giving birth was, in part, motivated by her daughter. Just 15 days after giving birth, she returned to training on the tennis court. She wants “for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, ‘That’s my mom’,” she explained in an interview with Adweek.

Of course, she was motivated by personal ambitions and goals, too. Osaka has played tennis for most of her life, she has four Grand Slams to her name and was, at one time, the world No. 1—there’s no denying that the 27-year-old is high-achieving. She knows what winning feels like and she has every desire to replicate the experience.

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Over the course of the past year, things haven’t exactly gone her way. In many ways, she feels just on the cusp of an epic comeback. But it’s a work in progress. That being said, she can still count 2024 as a success. Where training and competition are concerned, Osaka hasn’t let up. She played a full schedule this year, making appearances in all four of the Majors—and a number of smaller tournaments.

And so now, she’s enjoying some time off, according to her latest Instagram post. Her time in Tokyo so far has included good street style (a chic black midi dress and designer bag, to be exact) and some sweet time spent with her daughter. Since giving birth to Shai last summer, Osaka has kept her motherhood journey relatively private. She hasn’t shared many outtakes of the baby. But in this latest post, the athlete shared a tidbit from her latest journey. Though Shai wasn’t visible in the photo, the outtake made it clear that Osaka is making the most of this off-time with her daughter.