Izuchukwu OkosiJapanese star Naomi Osaka made a remarkable comeback to the courts on a winning note on New Year’s Day (1 January 2024) as she completed her first WTA Tour match in 517 days in the ongoing Brisbane International by defeating German Tamara Korpatsch 6-3 7-6(9) at Pat Rafter Arena.
The former world’s number one spoke to the media after the match and praised her level of competitiveness in the Women’s Singles game.
“Honestly, I’m very proud of myself. I feel like I played at a pretty good level. I think my opponent played really well, as well.”
Osaka had a nervous start and actually went down 5-3 in the second set and saved two set points in a tiebreak in the match that lasted one hour and 48 minutes.
The Asian’s absence from the sport was as a result of her maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, Shai in July 2023.
The remarkable feat shows the power of resilience and the strong characters of the WTA stars.
In this piece, Izuchukwu Okosi takes a look at five other tennis superstars who, like Osaka, came back to the sport after the birth of their babies and won major titles.
Victoria Azarenka
Former Singles number 1, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka emerged victorious at the 2009 Brisbane International in the Women’s Singles beating all comers all the way to the final.
In the final, Azarenka beat France’s Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1.
Prior to her Brisbane International feat, Azarenka had won 21 WTA Singles titles in total including successive Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013.
Azarenka lost out to Serena Williams in the US Open finals in the same years, 2012 and 2013.
Serena Williams
Reportedly born of African descent, Serena Williams is among the greatest of all times in women’s professional tennis.
Williams who has quit the game, announced in April 2017 that she was taking a break from the game as she was 20 weeks pregnant meaning that she won the Australian Open of that year gone with…pregnancy.
The sweetheart of women’s tennis made a comeback to the sport that brought her fame and glory (along with sister, Venus) and reached two consecutive Wimbledon and US Open finals.
Serena also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2021 but has called it quits with the game.
Her legendary status in tennis is forever sealed after 23 Grand Slam titles, the most by any player in the Open era. It is also the second-most all-time record.
Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters became the first ever Belgian tennis player, male of female, to become the world number 1 ranked player in professional tennis.
At the age of 23, Clijsters had retired from tennis but after giving birth, she made a comeback.
Clijsters is one of few ladies in the game who took time off to become a mother and she was back from her maternity leave to return to the WTA rankings where she won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles.
Among her feats include: Three WTA Tour Championships, four Grand Slam titles and the doubles in the French Open.
Along with the great Margaret Court, Clijsters holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother.
Lindsay Davenport
Perhaps better known by the older generation of tennis faithful in the 90s.
Lindsay Davenport was the singles World number 1 for a total of 98 weeks and was the year-end singles winner on four occasions (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005).
Davenport won a total of 38 WTA Tour doubles titles, including three major titles (the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open), and three Tour Finals.
Her break from the game came in 2006 and most parts of 2007 as she planned towards the arrival of her son.
When Davenport eventually decided to make a comeback to the game, she claimed three Grand Slam titles and was named the WTA Comeback Player of the Year in 2007.
Tatjana Maria
With the greatest of respect to her achievements, Tatjana Maria is arguably the least popular act in this list of tennis queens who made their returns from childbirth to win major titles.
Maria became a mother in 2013 but reached her best singles ranking of world No. 46 in 2017.
The German qualified for the semifinals of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, thus becoming the sixth female player in the Open Era over age 34 to achieve the feat and the sixth woman from Germany.
She however lost her semifinal match to then second seed and world number 2, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in three sets.
Her achievements made her the first mother-of-two to make the last four of a major since 1975, and only the fourth player ranked outside the top 100 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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