Between baby happiness and will shock: superstar Osaka returns after an eventful year

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Belinda Bencic (26) just took her maternity break in late autumn, but two other top players are returning to the tour these days. Angelique Kerber (35) made her mommy comeback on Saturday at the United Cup in Sydney. Meanwhile, superstar Naomi Osaka (26) sets her sights on the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane (playing Tamara Korpatsch on Monday evening).

The latter caused a lot of commotion during her maternity break when she brought her Belgian ex-coach Wim Fissette (43) back on board in the summer and thus took the – not exactly happy – Chinese Qinwen Zheng (21) away from her current coach. .

Osaka’s return is now receiving even more attention as the Japanese woman revealed details about the time before the birth of her daughter Shai in the women’s magazine ‘InStyle’. The four-time Grand Slam winner tested positive for group B streptococci during her pregnancy, she says. In the worst case, the bacterial infection can lead to a stillbirth of the baby.

In the last weeks before she gave birth, Osaka kept thinking about the American Olympic track and field champion Tori Bowie (†32). She was found dead in April, after which authorities discovered during the investigation that she was eight months pregnant. The autopsy revealed that Bowie appeared to suffer from shortness of breath and eclampsia, a condition linked to high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Osaka admits that this, and the further fact that former tennis dominator Serena Williams, 42, also suffered a life-threatening delivery, caused her enormous problems: “I started to panic a bit.” The former world number one therefore wrote a will while she was pregnant.

“The worst pain of my life”

The birth was ultimately not without complications due to her infection. Looking back, she says: “At that moment I thought: this is the worst pain of my life. If I get through this, everything else will feel easy.

Preparing for her comeback became – literally – child’s play, as Osaka says. The procedure was precisely defined: wake up at five in the morning, when Shai first feels hungry. Then 30 minutes of endurance training with running or cycling, a stretching session and a tennis session of two to three hours. And finally, strength and stabilization exercises and the final massage. According to Osaka, up to six hours a day were spent in this way. She only kept Sunday free for Shai and her partner, the American rapper Cordae (26).

It remains to be seen whether the effort will pay off in Brisbane or at the Australian Open (from January 14). One thing is clear: Osaka expects nothing less than a “brilliant comeback” from himself. In figures this means: another eight Grand Slam trophies plus the Olympic gold medal in Paris next summer. Or in other words: the competition should prepare themselves better for the comeback of the big mama. (mpe)

Source : Blick