"I heard about it after I pulled out from French Open" - Naomi Osaka on neglected instances of mental health struggles that led to withdrawal

Naomi Osaka recently opened up about her initial struggles with mental health back when she withdrew from the 2021 French Open and the time it took for her to address it.

In a podcast called the Mountaintop Coversations, the former US Open champion was asked how she first recognized that she had a mental health problem. She replied:

"I actually didn't know what mental health was. Growing up, no one was really talking about it. I think honestly the first time I heard about it was after I pulled out from the French Open. It's not like I had a dark childhood or anything, it's just that everything was so focussed on tennis."

Osaka admitted to first realizing that she was unwell at the 2018 Indian Wells tournament. However, being unaware of mental health at the time, the former World No. 1 continued to ignore it, believing she will have to "live with it".

"The first moment that I felt really depressed and sad was after I won Indian Wells for the first time. It happened again when I won the [2020] US Open. And Beijing. I was in China and I was hoping it would go away and I was crying on the court," she said.

"I thought to myself, I don't know what this feeling is, I don't know how to describe it and I don't know how to fix it so I guess I'm going to have to live with it for the rest of my life," she added.

She recalled that the problem got severe after she won the Australian Open for the second time in 2021.

"It got to a point after I won the Australian Open for the second time [in 2021], I felt I needed to do something about it because I don't want to keep living this way," she said.

Naomi Osaka hints at comeback post pregnancy in 2024

Naomi Osaka the 2022 US Open

In the same podcast, Naomi Osaka further talked about her return to the tennis courts soon.

As early as three weeks from the announcement of the birth of her daughter, Shai, Osaka had hinted at making a comeback via a reply to a fan's comment on Twitter.

The fan, eager to see the former Australian Open champion on-court, took to Twitter to post that she missed Osaka and was waiting for her to be back in action.

The comment caught Osaka's attention who replied "Omw", short for 'On My Way', dropping a hint at a comeback.

In the podcast, Naomi Osaka further discussed her return, possibly in the 2024 season, and touched on various topics like juggling motherhood while being on tour.