By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday January 25, 2024
Earlier this month, Naomi Osaka talked often of wanting to play a lot of tournaments in 2024, so she could get comfortable on the court again after a 15-month layoff and the birth of her first child in July of 2023.
“I’m definitely thinking this year that I want to play a lot of tournaments,” she said prior to the Australian Open. “I might go back to the schedule I had when I was, like, 18 or something. I think right now I really need to play a lot of matches and it will probably condition me to at least have a really good end of the year.
“For me right now, my schedule’s kind of packed with the tournaments that I want to play.”
She wasn’t kidding.
Osaka has accepted a wild card into the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, joining a packed field that includes Ons Jabeur, Elena Rybakina, Maria Sakkari and Emma Raducanu. The WTA 500 tournament begins on Feb. 3.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka accepts wildcard for the #MubadalaAbuDhabiOpen https://t.co/nQtzZi0px1
— The National (@TheNationalNews) January 22, 2024
Osaka went 1-2 in her first three matches of 2024, and lost in the first round at the Australian Open to Caroline Garcia.
Thank you for the memories, see you next year Melbourne ❤️ pic.twitter.com/E7GYm3IhIL
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) January 16, 2024
Per the WTA, 10 of the WTA’s Top 20 are going to be in attendance. Here’s the latest entry list:
Elena Rybakina
Ons Jabeur
Maria Sakkari
Barbora Krejcikova
Beatriz Haddad Maia
Jeļena Ostapenko
Liudmila Samsonova
Daria Kasatkina
Veronika Kudermetova
Caroline Garcia
Magda Linette
Sorana Cirstea
Anastasia Potapova
Anhelina Kalinina
Jasmine Paolini
Emma Navarro
Lesia Tsurenko
Wild cards: Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu
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