"We take Naomi Osaka's greatness for granted...": Andy Roddick thrilled at Naomi Osaka's comeback after Doha run

Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 07:00

Former World No.1 Naomi Osaka recently returned to the WTA tour after giving birth to her first child, and retired American pro Andy Roddick believes fans do not truly appreciate how much the Japanese superstar means to tennis.

Osaka gave birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023, and returned to competitive tennis in Brisbane earlier this year after spending 15 months on the sidelines. The four-time Grand Slam champion suffered a second round loss at Brisbane, before losing to Caroline Garcia in the first round of the Australian Open. After another early round loss in Abu Dhabi, Osaka recorded her best performance of the 2024 season, when she reached the quarterfinals at last week's Qatar Open.

Roddick believes Osaka is making progress, should not be underestimated

In the latest episode of the "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast, the 2003 US Open champion maintained that Osaka was showing promising signs of returning to her former glory. Furthermore, the American believes people have stopped appreciating "her greatness" and the four-time Grand Slam champion should be thrilled at her current level of play after taking so much time off.

"I actually think she's probably ahead of schedule because you can play those tough matches and actually pull a couple out pretty early in a comeback," said Roddick. "That's kind of a big deal to have your body actually go through a couple of weeks in a row. I was kind of really, really happy when she talked, pre-Australia, about, "I'm going to play a very full schedule." If she gets the reps and can get back, I don't question the tennis. The ball striking looked phenomenal.
"That is done through reps, and the confidence in those moments is not recreated in practice in Beverly Hills. It's just not. So for her to get back out there, I thought this was a really, really good result.
"I don't wanna undersell just because we kind of take her greatness for granted and what it was. I think if I'm on her team, I'm thrilled with where she's at."

Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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