"If my daughter did say she didn't want me to travel as much, I'm not the type of person to ignore that" - Naomi Osaka makes clear her priorities with tennis coming second

After enjoying a brief stint away from the court, Naomi Osaka is fired up and ready to compete in her home event. The Pan Pacific Open could be a glorious opportunity for her to finally clinch some more WTA silverware, but she stressed how her priorities lay elsewhere, with her daughter coming first.

Osaka took a hiatus from the sport in 2023 as she welcomed her child, Shai, into the world. 15 months later, she made a highly anticipated comeback, but it has not been as productive as her first stint in the sport.

A four-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1, the Japanese was the one to beat on the WTA Tour for a length of time. She is still a very tough opponent to square up to with a very powerful game that can overwhelm rivals, but she is not the force that was once reckoned with.

The 29-year-old has before spoken candidly about her future, even threatening to give up tennis if her poor form prolongs following a disastrous early exit at the Miami Open earlier this year.

"It's tough, sometimes I look towards my future and I often wonder how long I'm going to play," Osaka said ahead of competing at the Pan Pacific Open. "Because if my daughter did say she didn't want me to travel as much, I'm not the type of person to ignore that."

She labelled her daughter as her ‘biggest priority’ as she puts some of her focus away from tennis into parenthood. "I try my best to put as much energy as I can into tennis," she continued.

"I wouldn't say I'm part-timing it but my entire day doesn't consist of that. If I think about it in certain ways, I'm really proud of where I am now because it's not like I can dedicate my entire time to the sport."

Osaka has been trending in the right direction following that Canadian Open final and US Open semi-final at the start of 2025. While her form against the very best players in the world, most notably Aryna Sabalenka, has not been great, she did take down the Belarusian in the last-16 of Wimbledon. That came after reaching the Bad Homburg Open final but would withdraw through injury.

After losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the fourth round of the US Open, she has only featured once on the Asian swing at the China Open, being on the end of another defeat to Muchova in a three-set thriller.

She opted to spend some time with her family and celebrate her birthday properly before getting back to it, hoping to end 2026 with a flourish. Her first port of call is at the Pan Pacific Open, where she is the seventh seed. The World No.19 has a very tough test to start off. Two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini is a harsh way to begin proceedings.

The quest for titles is getting closer, according to Osaka. "I genuinely don't feel like I'm that far off," she said. "I think there are certain instincts that I don't want to say I lost, but maybe I forgot and I'm kind of relearning but yeah, I don't think - I hope - I'm not far off. I think I built a pretty solid base and I'm just excited to see if I can continue learning and going further in tournaments."

The last time she won a trophy was at the 2021 US Open. An extraordinary amount of time for a player with her calibre not to taste success at the highest level. In that time period, she has reached four finals, losing all of them. She is one of the favourites for glory in the Japanese capital, with Rybakina, Maja Chwalinska, Belinda Bencic and Alexandra Eala headling the field.