Naomi Osaka was ‘shocked’ by lack of paid maternity leave in US

Naomi Osaka has reflected on how motherhood has changed her view of tennis and the world as she prepares for her return to the Australian Open, a tournament she has won twice.

The three-time Grand Slam champion announced her pregnancy before last year’s Australian Open and retired from tennis. She gave birth to her daughter Shai in July and returned to the tour at the Brisbane International earlier this month.

In an interview with Glamor published on WednesdayOsaka called for the introduction of paid parental leave in the US, where she grew up.

“When I heard the statistics, I was really shocked,” Osaka said of the US, one of the few countries in the world that does not have a national paid parental leave policy. “I’m lucky that I don’t have to get started right away, but I really needed that time to process everything and of course get to know my baby.

One in four women in the US return to work within two weeks of giving birth, and 73% of Americans do not receive paid parental leave from their workplace. “To see that there are so many women who don’t have that choice and have to go straight to work is really sad,” Osaka said.

Osaka has been open about her struggles with life’s pressures throughout the professional tour, but said becoming a mother has helped her mental health.

“I feel so strong,” she says. “People talk about childbirth, but once you experience it, it’s different. I just feel like I can do anything and nothing will bother me, and the pain tolerance has definitely increased a lot because of that. I just don’t care that much about other people’s opinions anymore.”

The 26-year-old won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021 and said it would help her approach the tournament as a mother.

“It seems so far removed from being a mother when I walk across the field. I’ve been playing tennis since I was three, so that’s as normal for me as breathing. But at the same time, I often worry about whether I’m a good mother, but at the end of the day I realize that Shai is my daughter,” she said. “There’s nothing I could do or want to do that will change that, and I just want to be a good role model for her and I want her to be proud of me.”