{"id":32084,"date":"2025-07-23T20:52:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T20:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32084\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T20:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T20:52:04","slug":"naomi-osaka-suggests-if-she-would-like-to-see-serena-williams-come-out-of-retirement-and-return-to-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32084\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka suggests if she would like to see Serena Williams come out of retirement and return to tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Naomi Osaka is looking to build confidence on hard courts with a strong showing at the Washington Open.<\/p>\n

The Japanese star matched her career-best result at Wimbledon last time out, when Osaka lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova<\/a> in the third round.<\/p>\n

Travelling to Washington for her first US Open warm-up tournament, Osaka<\/a> took down Yulia Putintseva in her opening match.<\/p>\n

\"NaomiPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Osaka is usually the biggest name in any draw, but that might not be the case at this year\u2019s Washington Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams made her return to tennis<\/a> in DC, winning her opening match against Peyton Stearns in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Williams<\/a>\u2018 win, Osaka had plenty of kind words to say about the 45-year-old, as she suggested whether she\u2019d like to see her sister come out of retirement.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka praises \u2018queen\u2019 Venus Williams and has her \u2018fingers crossed\u2019 for a Serena Williams return<\/p>\n

During her post-match press conference, Osaka was asked whether she\u2019d had any interactions with Williams in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t gotten to interact with her in more than we were both, like, going to practice type of thing. But for me, she\u2019s the queen, like there\u2019s a royal air around her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honestly kind of surprised you guys are still here, because I know she\u2019s \u2013 I don\u2019t know if she\u2019s playing right now or if she\u2019s about to walk on court, so I\u2019m probably going to go watch that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like whenever I see her or Serena [Williams]<\/a>, the kid in me comes out, because they were my favorite players to watch. So it\u2019s really cool that she kind of is doing it for the fans, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the topic of Serena Williams, Osaka said whether she\u2019d like to see the 23-time Slam winner come out of retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, for me, it\u2019s everything, you know. I\u2019m grateful that they played so long, and they\u2019re continuing \u2014 maybe Serena is coming back, I don\u2019t know, fingers crossed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"SerenaPhoto by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I feel like it\u2019s so great for the sport, because obviously I grew up watching them, and then I was able to play with them. As a player myself, I know how difficult it is to even be at the top for that long of a time. That\u2019s really insane. I think people, I guess, should value them a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, I mean, they\u2019re my mothers. They\u2019re the queens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams was seen practising with her sister in DC recently, causing many to speculate whether she\u2019d follow the 45-year-old\u2019s lead and make a return to tennis.<\/p>\n

The younger of the two sisters retired from tennis at the 2022 US Open, where Williams lost to Ajla Tomljanovic<\/a> in the third round.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if we will see Williams return to tennis, although it seems like she\u2019s enjoying her retirement for now.<\/p>\n

If she were to return, Osaka would no doubt welcome a fifth career meeting with the American.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams\u2019 head-to-head record<\/p>\n

Osaka and Williams have played one another four times previously, facing off in several big competitions.<\/p>\n

MatchWinnerLoserScore2021 Australian Open \u2013 SFNaomi OsakaSerena Williams6-3, 6-42019 Canadian Open \u2013 QFSerena WilliamsNaomi Osaka6-3, 6-42018 US Open \u2013 FNaomi OsakaSerena Williams6-2, 6-42018 Miami Open \u2013 1RNaomi OsakaSerena Williams6-3, 6-2Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams\u2019 head-to-head record<\/p>\n

Their most notable clash came in the final of the 2018 US Open, as Osaka searched for her maiden Grand Slam title, while Williams was looking to pick up her 24th.<\/p>\n

The match was best remembered for Williams\u2019 outbursts at the umpire, which resulted in her being docked a point and then a game.<\/p>\n

Osaka took advantage to secure the win in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, but was in tears as boos rained down on Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"NaomiPhoto by Tim Clayton\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Playing again in 2019 and 2021, Osaka and Williams won one match apiece, as the Japanese star clinched the head-to-head 3-1.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely we will see a fifth match between Osaka and Williams, but the prospect of another clash between two of the sport\u2019s biggest names will certainly get fans talking.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka is looking to build confidence on hard courts with a strong showing at the Washington Open.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[6542,99,428,9518,654],"class_list":{"0":"post-32084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-serena-williams","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-venus-williams","12":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}