Naomi Osaka Responds to Doubters With Strongly-Worded Message About Incredible Career Accomplishments

The pro tennis player is quieting the outside noise as she works her way back to the top of her game.

Naomi Osaka / Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

For much of the 2024 season, Naomi Osaka has felt right on the cusp of where she wants to be. After a season-long hiatus from professional tennis, during which time she gave birth to her first child (a daughter named Shai), she has returned to the court with a new sort of determination. She’s no longer simply playing for herself, after all, she’s playing for her daughter, too. On the court in Brisbane after her first match back (and first win!) from maternity leave, the athlete reportedly attributed her fire to her newborn, according to Tennis365.

Her determination, though, hasn’t translated into the sort of success that she was hoping for upon her return. After a second round loss at the Cincinnati Masters in August, Osaka shared a taste of her disappointment on social media. “My biggest issue currently isn’t the losses though, my biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body,” she wrote. “It’s a strange feeling, missing balls I shouldn’t miss, hitting balls softer than I remember I used to. I try to tell myself, ‘it’s fine you’re doing great, just get through this one and keep pushing’, mentally it’s draining though.”

The disappointment was, in some part, a testament to Osaka’s high standards. You don’t reach the pinnacle of your sport without believing that you can—and once you have, you spend your career chasing the high standard you set. And the 2021 SI Swimsuit Issue cover model has certainly reached the pinnacle of her sport.

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Understandably, she has no patience for doubters. She may be experiencing spells of disappointment in her game, but only because she knows she’s capable of greatness—because she’s been there before. Osaka won’t let the doubters tell her otherwise. She made that known in a message on Threads on Oct. 3.

“I just saw someone call me a fluke,” she wrote on the platform. “How is it possible to be a fluke with 4 grand slams, lighting the Olympic torch, beating multiple top 20 opponents and being close to the top 50 the year after giving birth?”

Osaka has achieved all of that and more over the course of her impressive tennis career. And she’s still working toward more achievements—all while being a mother, no less. She is, in our eyes, an incredible force both on and off the court, and we have no doubt she will continue to achieve at unimaginably high levels in the years to come.