Lindsay Davenport: “Something has to change” in Naomi Osaka comeback

Naomi Osaka’s seventh Grand Slam outing since returning from maternity leave ended in another disappointment, the Wimbledon Primetime panel breaking down her third-round loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday.

“She seems a little bit lost,” said Prakash Amritraj following the former world No. 1’s 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat. “When she’s playing great tennis, it’s so beautiful to watch that she brings non-tennis eyeballs to the game. We’re all such big fans of that. But she needs to start feeling a bit better about herself before it can translate into good tennis. That has to come first before the good striking. She said [in press], ‘I’m just going to be a negative person today, because that’s how I feel’ and I don’t know how she gets through that, but she has to.”

A four-time Grand Slam champion, Osaka is yet to reach the second week of a major tournament since giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023. Her comeback began the following year at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round to Caroline Garcia. Though she avenged that defeat earlier this year, subsequent losses have made the 27-year-old question how much longer her career will last.

“Once that thought gets in your mind, it’s hard to get it out of your mind,” said Lindsay Davenport, a fellow former No. 1 who mounted her own comeback from maternity leave back in 2007. “She’s been back on tour for about 18 months now since her maternity break and she’s been playing full time, no real injuries. Yes, it’s hard to come back. I get it; I did it. But she’s not even in a position to be seeded, hasn’t really been able to break into that Top 30, which, if you’ve won four Grand Slams and been No. 1 in the world, that’s what you’re shooting for.

“This is probably a really good time for her to take some time, figure out why she’s playing and struggling in these close matches. Once you lose your confidence at 4-4 or 5-5 in sets, it’s tough to get it back. She’s just got to figure out if this is what she wants to be doing out here.”

Amritraj argued Osaka was unlikely to step away and, despite disappointments at Grand Slam tournaments, has trended up in 2025 by winning her first title on clay in Saint-Malo.

“The only puzzling thing for me is that, for someone who has had that much success, sometimes when I listen to her it’s like she’s never been there before. As cliché as it sounds, you’ve got to remember who you are here. When she was playing at her best, she was trouncing people on hard courts, winning Grand Slams back-to-back.

“She’s put the work in, clearly,” added former No. 1 Jim Courier. “She’s fitter than I’ve seen her in a long, long time.”

Both Courier and Davenport raised Osaka’s current coaching partnership with Patrick Mouratoglou, who worked with Serena Williams through the final decade of her career. Following a Roland Garros defeat last month, Osaka opened up about feeling like she was disappointing Mouratoglou with her results.

Something has to give there, whether it’s playing a little less or bringing her daughter on the road with her a bit more, maybe try a new coaching set-up...It just seems like something’s got to change for her to have a little bit more success. Lindsay Davenport

“I was thinking this just now, but he goes from working with, like, the greatest player ever to, like, ‘What the fuck this is?’” a frustrated Osaka said at the time.

“That’s not a thought that should be in a player’s mind,” said Courier.

“Something has to give there,” agreed Davenport, “whether it’s playing a little less or bringing her daughter on the road with her a bit more, maybe try a new coaching set-up. Who knows? It just seems like something’s got to change for her to have a little bit more success.”

Osaka will likely play her next tournament on a hard court, the surface on which she has achieved her greatest successes with four Grand Slam victories (two US Open, two Australian Open).