Naomi Osaka Embraces Motherhood and Clay-Court Progress at Roland Garros

Naomi Osaka, the former world No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion, is embracing motherhood while navigating the challenges of the European clay circuit. Her 10-month-old daughter, Shai, has taken her first steps, bringing immense joy to Osaka.

Despite the distance from her child, Osaka remains connected through daily calls. She acknowledges the difficulty of being away from Shai, but finds solace in her daughter's well-being.

Osaka's clay-court journey began in Rouen, France, and has seen her make significant progress on the slow, red surface. She has never won a match on clay against a top-20 player until her recent victories at the Italian Open.

"I have made a significant amount of progress, and I feel like people can kind of see that throughout the tournaments that I have played," Osaka said. "I feel like I have dedicated a lot of time to learning about clay."

Osaka's major titles came on hard courts, and she has yet to advance past the third round at the French Open or Wimbledon. However, she is more at ease on clay now.

"Honestly, at this point, I feel pretty comfortable on clay, to the point where I don't know if I'll be a little confused my first day back on hard," she joked.

Osaka's opening match at Roland Garros is against Lucia Bronzetti, with the potential for a second-round clash against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.

"Clay is fun. You get to slide around. You get to see how strong you are, in and out of corners," Osaka said. "For me, there is a lot of really valuable lessons that I'm learning from clay-court tennis."

Tags: #NaomiOsaka, #RolandGarros, #ClayCourtTennis, #Motherhood, #GrandSlamChampion