Naomi Osaka waved to the crowd and walked back up the players’ tunnel past the images of former champions after her Grand Slam comeback ended in a first-round loss at the Australian Open to 16th-seeded Caroline Garcia.
It was too early this time.
Three matches into her return from 15 months off the tour, and six months after the birth of her daughter, Shai, Osaka lost 6-4, 7-6 (2) in a tight encounter at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Monday night.
Garcia didn’t give Osaka a look at a breakpoint in the match.
Most of the rallies were short.
The service holds were comfortable — except for one in the first set. That was all the difference.
“I have a lot of respect for Naomi as a person and as a player — 15 months she’s been away,” Garcia said. “I’m very glad to see her back. Six months after giving birth, she’s playing quite amazing already. We have to watch out.”
Osaka was one of three past Australian Open champions who returned to play at Melbourne Park for the first time as moms, joining 2016 winner Angelique Kerber and 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki.
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She became a darling of the left for her social justice activism in 2020.
Osaka flew to Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody and wrote a piece about her experience there for Esquire, titled “I Never Would’ve Imagined Writing This Two Years Ago,” which laid out “why being ‘not racist’ isn’t enough.”
“I support the movement to defund the police,” she wrote. “By that, I don’t necessarily mean to eradicate them altogether. Some of their funding — like payment plans to cops who have been convicted of crimes — should be re-allocated to social measures within the community: Education, housing and youth programs, which are so often neglected. “
In the opening match on Rod Laver, U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff needed just 60 minutes to advance.
Gauff, with increased confidence in her serve thanks to some advice from Andy Roddick, began her bid for back-to-back Grand Slam singles titles with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
