Naomi Osaka made a winning return to professional tennis with a straight sets victory in the first round of the Brisbane International on Monday.
The four-time Grand Slam champion ousted Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 7-6(9), in what was a tricky encounter at times. It was the first time Osaka had played a match on the Tour since September 2022 after taking a break from the sport to give birth to her first child in July.
During the lengthy clash which lasted nearly two hours, Osaka was sternly tested throughout the second set where she had to come back from a break down and then failed to serve the match out when leading 5-3. Then in the tiebreaker, she saved two set points before going on to convert her third match point opportunity.
“Looking back on the match now, honestly I’m very proud of myself,” the former world No.1 said of her latest performance.
“I feel like I played at a pretty good level. I think my opponent played really well, as well.
“Honestly, all I can think of is, like, the consistent nerves that I had. So just getting through that really tough match and hopefully building on it.
“I think maybe some of my decisions weren’t the best. But I think it’s better to have harder matches because it will train me for what’s to come.”
Awaiting her in the next round will be Karolina Pliskova who is seeded 16th in the draw and received a bye in the first round. It will be their fifth meeting on the Tour but their first since 2020 which was also at the Brisbane International. Pliskova currently leads their head-to-head 3-2.
“She’s such a tough opponent,” Osaka said of Pliskova. “She’s very different from the match that I played just now, so (I’m) very interested to see what happens.”
Besides targeting a return back to the top of women’s tennis and adding more titles to her collection, the 26-year-old also intends to show more appreciation to those supporting her.
“The last couple of years that I played before I had my daughter, I didn’t return as much love as I was given,” she said. “I feel like that’s what I want to do in this chapter.
“I just really appreciate people coming out and knowing me and cheering for me, because I feel like there was a time I was just a little kid trying to watch my role models play. So it feels really surreal sometimes to be playing on these courts.”
Osaka is making her fourth appearance in Brisbane and is a two-time semi-finalist of the event.
