Tennis pro-Naomi Osaka is shutting down rumors that she’s expecting another child. The 26-year-old Grand Slam champion debunked the rumors in a TikTok video.
“I just wanna say, I’m not preggos, but if I was, I wouldn’t want many more,” she said, while relaxing in her bed, “because giving birth was traumatic. But thank you, though, for your blessings.”
Osaka is a mother of one. She gave birth to her daughter, Shai, in July 2023. She has since been transparent about her motherhood journey, often touching on topics like postpartum and how motherhood has motivated her to continue pursuing her tennis dreams.
During an interview with InStyle, Osaka shared her thoughts on the challenges of pregnancy.
“I don’t think people know how hard pregnancy is; no one really talks about it as much,” she told the outlet, talking about the difficulties of pregnancy. “Going into it, you kind of think, ‘Oh, it’s this beautiful journey.’ But it’s kind of rough.”
Despite pregnancy and postpartum being difficult, the tennis pro has also discussed how transformative motherhood has been for her. During an interview with Glamour, the 26-year-old explained how becoming a mom has helped her care about other people’s opinions less
“I feel so strong,” she says. “People talk about childbirth, but it’s different once you experience it. I just feel like I can do anything and nothing will bother me, and the pain tolerance has definitely increased a lot from that. I just don’t really care about other people’s opinions anymore.”
The Japanese and Haitian talent had her daughter Shai with boyfriend and rapper Cordae. She recently returned to Tennis, playing her first match since she became a mother in January. That said, her re-entry into the tennis world didn’t play out as she imagined, seeing as she recently failed to get into the main draw of the Cincinnati Open. The tennis professional partially attributed her loss to postpartum.
“My biggest issue currently isn’t losses though, my biggest issue is that I don’t feel like I’m in my body,” she continued. “It’s a strange feeling, missing balls I shouldn’t miss, hitting balls softer than I remember I used to. I try and tell myself ‘it’s fine you’re doing great, just get through this one and keep pushing’, mentally it’s really draining though.”
