"I guess, come to this point": Naomi Osaka opens up about how difficult 2024 season transformed her into a 'different person'

Former world number one Naomi Osaka believes she is a ‘different’ person after a difficult 2024 season. The 27-year-old was once regarded as the best player in women’s tennis in the singles category. Osaka returned to the court in early 2024 after spending more than 12 months on the sidelines because of pregnancy.

Her return, however, did not go as planned, as she found it hard to compete against players who were younger, hungrier and in form. Those performances pushed Osaka to admit that she might even consider retiring if the results do not improve in the near future. The four-time Grand Slam winner recently participated in the ASB Classic in Auckland, where she produced arguably her best performance ever since returning to the court last year.

The Osaka-born star narrowly missed out on the title as he was forced to retire in the final because of fitness concerns. Osaka has been recently quoted in a report where she was asked about how she feels just days before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year. In response to that, the former world number one admitted that a difficult 2024 has made her a different person.

“Yeah, I would say when I came here last year, it was kind of like hopes and dreams,” she said. “Me sitting here is like reality, which it's funny because I do have the same hopes and dreams, but it's more like understanding how much hard work it takes to, I guess, come to this point. Very transparently, for me I feel like the tennis was kind of always there in a way. It was just the belief of feeling like I can string together victories if the conditions were bad or if I thought I wasn't playing as well as I could have. I feel like I've learned that throughout the course of 2024 and I guess Auckland as well. Yeah, I would say I am a little bit of a different person now, hopefully.”