Naomi Osaka is honoured to be an advocate for working moms and body positivity
Naomi Osaka has admitted that she is still getting used to being an inspiration to working mothers and new moms.
Osaka says that becoming an advocate of sorts for new moms and working moms is something that she is still getting used to.
While in Toronto, Osaka was touched by an interaction with a fan.
“While I was signing autographs a mom talked to me, and she said that she was having a tough time, and something that I said on court really helped her out,” Osaka said.
“For me it’s definitely an honour. I don’t know, I still feel like I’m figuring myself out, so I’m always a little shocked when someone says that something that I’ve said or done has helped them out, but I really treasure that a lot.
“I think we’re all just trying to get through it, and we’re all just trying to find the best way that we know how and, yeah, it’s a really big honour for me.
“I feel like it’s a beautiful, magical thing that you’ve created a life inside of you, and you almost don’t even really get to treasure that moment. I think for me, I don’t know, I feel like giving birth is, it’s normalized, and almost every, like, mom that I know has had a really difficult pregnancy and labor, so I wish that women could see how strong they are, but also not feel, like, too many expectations at the same time to, I guess, look a certain way or be a certain way.
Osaka has won all four of her Grand Slams on hard courts and has yet to reach a WTA Tour final on any other surface.
The former world No 1 lost in the round of 32 in Toronto this week but she remains hopeful of building some momentum through the US Open season.
Osaka felt like her win over Ons Jabeur in the opening round was something that was a long time coming and the result of things clicking for her on the hard court.
“I think for me I’ve had so many matches on hard court under my belt, and I learned a lot from my last match on hard, which was against Garcia in Miami. It was a little bit of a long time coming, but I’m really glad to be back on hard and I think, I don’t know, even the way that I return now I took from clay, so I hope that I can keep implementing things that I’ve learned over the months.”
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When asked what makes hard courts her favourite surface, Osaka said that pace and consistency were influential, she couldn’t come up with a downside to playing on hard.
“I would never attack my treasured hard court,” Osaka laughed.
“I would say my favorite thing about hard court, I don’t know, it’s fast, but it’s not too fast.
“Like, I feel like on grass it’s somehow a little bit reactive, and I obviously couldn’t get used to that quick enough, but on hard it kind of gives me at least a second to, I guess, build up the point. I also feel like that might also be the reason why I did better on clay as opposed to grass, just because I do quite like building the point.”
