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Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, has announced that she is expecting a baby.
After not playing since September, the 25-year-old former world number one from Japan withdrew from the Australian Open earlier this week.
“2023 will be a year that’ll be full for lessons for me,” said Osaka, adding that she hopes to return in 2024.
“One thing I am looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, ‘that’s my mom’.”
In 2021, Osaka captured her final Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
She has, however, commented about the issues she has encountered since her illustrious title victory.
After withdrawing from the French Open in May 2021, she acknowledged that since since winning her first major championship at the US Open in 2018, she has “suffered long bouts of depression.”
She took a five-month hiatus from the sport beginning in September 2021.
Upon her return, she was defeated in the third round of the Australian Open, the first round of the French Open, Wimbledon was missed due to injury, and she was defeated in the first round of the US Open.
Osaka, who last competed at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September, is now ranked number 47 in the world.