Osaka acknowledged that her mindset has changed a lot with age and the extra responsibilities that come with parenthood, saying “my daughter is my biggest priority”.<\/p>\n
“I try my best to put as much energy as I can into tennis,” she added.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t say I’m part-timing it but my entire day doesn’t consist of that.<\/p>\n
“If I think about it in certain ways, I’m really proud of where I am now because it’s not like I can dedicate my entire time to the sport.”<\/p>\n
Osaka has battled her way back up to 19th in the world and is the seventh seed at this week’s tournament, where she plays Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the opening round. <\/p>\n
She beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> on her way to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon earlier this year, after finishing runner-up in the preceding grass tournament at Bad Homburg, and also reached the last 16 of the French Open<\/a> and US Open.<\/a><\/p>\n Osaka also made it to the semi-finals in Washington and last eight in Toronto during the North American hardcourt swing, and her run at Flushing Meadows was only ended by eventual champion Elena Rybakina. <\/p>\n “I genuinely don’t feel like I’m that far off,” she said, when considering if she can get back to winning titles. <\/p>\n “I think there are certain instincts that I don’t want to say I lost, but maybe I forgot and I’m kind of relearning but yeah, I don’t think – I hope – I’m not far off.<\/p>\n “I think I built a pretty solid base and I’m just excited to see if I can continue learning and going further in tournaments.”<\/p>\n Osaka is in the opposite side of the draw in Tokyo to Kazakhstan’s world number one Rybakina, who goes into the tournament on the back of winning her fourth title of the year at the Ningbo Open in China. <\/p>\n