She’s back.
Naomi Osaka will return to tennis in the first week of the new year when she competes in the Melbourne Summer Set, the Women’s Tennis Association announced Friday. The tournament will take place Jan. 3-9.
Osaka has yet to confirm the news, which came a day after she shared rare footage from various training sessions to her Instagram and Twitter pages.
The four-time Grand Slam winner will return to the court to compete four months after she tearfully announced in a September press conference at the US Open that she was taking a break from tennis “for a while.”
At the time, Osaka was in the middle of a media boycott and cited mental health concerns. She told reporters that she was unsure what her tennis future looked like.
The 2021 US Open marked Osaka’s first major since she pulled out of the French Open this spring and skipped Wimbledon in July to focus on her mental health.
During her time off, the defending Australian Open champion attended the Met Gala, visited a gun range, turned 24 (on Oct. 16) and vacationed in Mykonos and Rome.
On Nov. 5, Osaka shared a series of photos that showed her training on the court, and hinted that she was working toward her return.
Osaka and Rafael Nadal will kick off their 2022 season at the Melbourne Summer Set, comprising two WTA 250 and one ATP 250 tournaments.
She will complete for the first time since falling to Leylah Fernandez in the third round of the US Open. The loss snapped Osaka’s 16-match winning streak at majors.
Naomi Osaka during her loss to Leylah Fernandez at the US Open Getty ImagesOther top tennis players competing in the Summer Set include, two-time major titlist Simona Halep, French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and reigning US Open championEmma Raducanu, who will make her first visit to Melbourne Park.






