Naomi Osaka is in the semifinals of a Slam for the first time since 2021. Watch out, WTA

NEW YORK—The results have been as spotty as a leopard’s coat, alternately encouraging and dispiriting, an endless trip up and down the psychic elevator. But after four years in exile from the pinnacle of tennis, after a period of mental healing, childbirth, forays into fashion, television and coaching changes, Naomi Osaka is back where she left off—or is it back where she started?

“It's one thing to say (I quit), but I think to actually do it, to hang up my racquet permanently would be a very scary thing,” Osaka said in a moment of candor after her fourth-round upset of No. 3 seed Coco Gauff. “I've been playing this sport since I was 3. I tell people it's like breathing air to me. I wouldn't really know what to do.”

Osaka apparently loves tennis again, and that’s bad news for the other stars perched high on the WTA roost. She demonstrated where rekindling that passion can lead at the US Open on Wednesday evening, as she advanced to the semifinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open.

Osaka eliminated Karolina Muchova, the No. 11 seed, in a one-hour and 45 minute exhibition of spectacular shotmaking by both women, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

“It was an incredibly difficult match, I’m just really grateful to be here,” Osaka, who is 27 years old and ranked No. 24, told the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium after the win. She'll face Amanda Anisimova in Thursday night's second semifinal.

Referring to the long break she took in 2023, she added, “I was sitting up there watching and hoping I can get the opportunity to play on this court again. This is like my dream is coming true.”

This outcome has been long in the making. Seven Grand Slam events and 18-plus months from the reset of her career in January of 2024, to be exact. It was not always a pleasant interval, because Osaka had expected to find her return to the elite level more swiftly.

“Since I’ve come back, I wanted everything to happen really quickly,” she said after her third-round win over Daria Kasatkina, “so I think it took for me to just completely not even think about results anymore, and just try to focus on every match."

It's like a video game. You pick it up, and even if you lose a level, you kind of just restart and keep going until you eventually win. Naomi Osaka, on returning to tennis

In truth, though, there seemed to be some ambivalence around the early days of her comeback, as if the prospect of going all-in and coming up short was too painful to contemplate. Osaka reached the Auckland final in her first appearance this year, then had two quality wins (one of them over Muchova) at the Australian Open. She had trouble getting traction, though, and largely remained outside the Top 50. She lost in the first round of Roland Garros and won just two matches at Wimbledon.

Osaka’s turnaround began in Washington D.C. in July. She was beaten in her second match by Emma Raducanu. She called a meeting of her team and, despite coming off a loss, told them, “I think I can beat anyone from the baseline still, even though I lost. We just have to figure out if I have to change my game plan, or if I just have to do something new and different.”

She elected new and different, severing her relationship with Patrick Mouratoglou, her coach since September of 2024. She immediately hired Tomasz Wiktorowski, the veteran trainer who joined the team at Osaka’s next tournament, the Montreal 1000. She didn’t even know how to pronounce his name.

The coach convinced her to play a more modulated game and emphasized the importance of fitness. Refreshed, Osaka made it to the final.

“I'm really comfortable just getting balls back now, and I really enjoy Tomasz,” she said of her new coach—and revised game. “I don't know if to say his name is 'Thomas' or 'Tomasz.' I'm so sorry. But I enjoy his coaching style. He's very direct and to the point.”

As a first-strike, go-big or go-home player for most of her career, Osaka took to the new coach’s approach immediately. Her fourth-round win over Gauff, a superb defender who can break down the game of any big hitter, may loom as a watershed moment for Osaka.

“Coco is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, player on tour,” Osaka said after that win. “I think that says a lot for me to be completely fine with playing long rallies with her, and just knowing that I'm okay not going for anything until I get my, like, perfect opportunity.”

Osaka added that besides playing well, she feels she played “smart” against Gauff. Wiktorowski provided her with a game plan and she executed it well.

“It was just very clear for me what I had to do from the beginning,” she said. “If I stepped outside of those lines, it was very easy to go back in them.”

These past few weeks have taught Osaka a lot. Wiktorowski has certainly opened up new avenues of inquiry when it comes to strategy and tactics. But the most eye-opening and valuable realization came from within.

“I learned I loved tennis way more than I thought I did, and I learned that, you know, I actually really love challenges,” she said. “You know, it's like a video game. You pick it up, and even if you lose a level, you kind of just restart and keep going until you eventually win. I think it's a little tough at some times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.”

Osaka is among the people who can really describe her life as a “journey.” She has taken the scenic route, and it isn’t over yet.