NEW YORK — Two years ago, Naomi Osaka sat in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium and watched Coco Gauff advance to the US Open final with a win over Karolina Muchova.
For Osaka, it was a stark reminder of where she had been — and where she was in the moment.
She was three years removed from her last title at the tournament, and just two months from giving birth to her daughter, Shai. Being a spectator reminded her of what it was like to play in front of 24,000 people when the lights were brightest. She couldn’t wait to get out there again.
She hadn’t formally returned to practice, but Osaka could picture herself out there, playing against the top players, deep into Slams.
A few weeks later, she returned to the practice court, more motivated than ever.
On Monday, Osaka was back again at Arthur Ashe Stadium. But this time, she was facing Gauff, now a two-time major champion and the tournament’s No. 3 seed, in the fourth round as the capacity crowd looked on.
It had been hyped as a must-see match between former US Open champions, and two of the sport’s biggest stars, but the match contained little drama. Osaka, 27, recorded the biggest, and perhaps most impressive, victory of her comeback with a 6-3, 6-2 win in just 64 minutes to advance to her first major quarterfinal since 2021.
It meant everything.
“I’m a little sensitive and I don’t want to cry, but honestly, I just had so much fun out here,” Osaka said on the court moments later. “I was telling everyone, literally I was in the stands two months after I gave birth to my daughter, watching Coco. I just really wanted an opportunity to come out here and play. This is my favorite court in the world, and it means so much to me to be back here.”
SIX YEARS AGO, almost to the day, Osaka and Gauff played for the first time.
Osaka was the reigning champion and the world No. 1, and Gauff was a 15-year-old prodigy who had thrilled the world with her audacious run to the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier in the summer. It too was billed as a can’t-miss event on Ashe between two rising stars.
But Osaka dominated the third-round match 6-3, 6-0, and it could have been largely forgettable. But as Gauff cried on the court, Osaka consoled her and asked her to do the post-match interview — usually for the winner only — with her. Osaka then praised Gauff and her parents in a beautiful moment of sportsmanship. The two players have been intrinsically linked ever since, even as their careers went on markedly different paths.
Osaka ultimately lost in the next round in New York, but she went on to win the title again the following year, in addition to her second Australian Open title at the start of the 2021 season. She was on top of the tennis world and the clear heir apparent to Serena Williams’ throne as the most dominant and recognizable figure in women’s tennis.
What happened next has been well documented. She announced she would be skipping news conferences at the French Open just a few months later, which set off a media firestorm and resulted in her withdrawing ahead of her second-round match. She skipped Wimbledon. At the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open, she lost in the third round. Following the early exit in New York, she tearfully told reporters she was contemplating taking a break from the sport.
“I feel like for me recently, like, when I win, I don’t feel happy,” Osaka explained. “I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don’t think that’s normal.”
Osaka returned for the 2022 season but lost in the third round at the Australian Open, and then didn’t win another major match. She announced her pregnancy just days before the start of the 2023 Australian Open and many wondered if she would ever play again.
Meanwhile, through Osaka’s struggles and maternity leave, Gauff continued to climb up the rankings. She reached her first major final at the 2022 French Open and won her first Slam title at the 2023 US Open, two days after Osaka had watched her from the crowd. This summer, Gauff won her second major title at the French Open.
MOTIVATED BY THE high level she had seen from Gauff and the rest of the top players at the US Open, and wanting to win for her daughter, Osaka had high hopes for her return in 2024.
But she didn’t see the immediate results she was hoping for. While she had flashes of her vintage form — most notably during a second-round clash against Iga Swiatek at last year’s French Open — she struggled against the best players, and in the most crucial of moments. She failed to advance past the second round at a major in 2024.
Disappointed by her year, she fired her coach, Wim Fissette, at the end of the season and brought in Patrick Mouratoglou, best known for his long-term partnership with Williams. They had some decent results — including third-round appearances at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, as well as a 125-level title and a runner-up finish at Auckland — but the two parted ways in July.
Since then, Osaka began working with Tomasz Wiktorowski, who previously coached Swiatek to multiple major titles. (Swiatek is now working with Fissette.) The results — the ones she’s desperately been seeking since the start of her comeback — have been immediate.
At the Canadian Open last month — their first tournament together — Osaka rattled off one impressive win after another and reached her first 1000-level final since 2022. In her second-round match in Montreal against Liudmila Samsonova, she saved two match points and forced a decider. She has since called it a turning point for her attitude and self-belief.
“Ever since then I’ve started thinking anything’s possible,” Osaka said on Monday after defeating Gauff. “You just have to try your best [and] have a smile on your face.”
Osaka lost in three sets to Victoria Mboko in the final, but she arrived in New York seeded at a Slam for the first time since giving birth. She was clearly feeling confident and buoyed by her momentum — and happy about her partnership with Wiktorowski.
“I’m working with a new coach,” Osaka said at the start of the US Open. “He’s really great. He’s just incredibly helpful. He cuts to the chase, and he makes me feel like he’s kind of an encyclopedia of tennis, so it’s good to have someone like that in your corner.”
Osaka has always said the US Open is her favorite tournament. Before she won her first major title — against her childhood hero Williams in a controversial and dramatic final — she was a young kid, watching the tournament on television and attending as a fan, dreaming of one day getting to play at the event. While she represents Japan, several of her childhood years were spent in New York and the crowd often gives her the hometown treatment.
The tour is a different place, with new faces atop the rankings, and Osaka is a different person now than she was during her title runs in 2018 and 2020, with the added responsibility of being a parent, in addition to entrepreneurial interests. But her goals on the tennis court remain the same.
And now, it seems, despite all of the changes, she is in the position to achieve them yet again.
Throughout the tournament, Osaka has been resurgent and like the player who once so effortlessly dominated the hard courts in Queens. She’s dropped just one set — to No. 15 seed Daria Kasatkina in the third round — but has otherwise been in firm control. Against Gauff, who has been in the daunting process of overhauling her service motion in real time, Osaka showcased her movement, strong serving and resolve from the start. She won 32 of the 38 points she served, converted all four of her break points and, per the WTA, was victorious in 16 of the 24 rallies that went five or more shots.
When it was over, she remained mostly composed, with a wide smile on her face, as her team and family members in her box jumped up and down, excitedly exchanging hugs and high fives.
Gauff, who was broken in the opening game, had five double faults in the outing, including one to seal the first set. The 21-year-old also had 33 unforced errors.
“It’s disappointing,” Gauff said after the match. “For sure it was not the level that I wanted to bring, but it is a step in the right direction I feel, and I think emotionally how much this week was, I think today I just stepped in, and I maybe was a little bit empty. She forced me to earn every point out there today.”
At other points in her career, Osaka was unable to hide her frustration on the court and sometimes seemed to crumble under the pressure. But on Monday, and throughout her run in New York, Osaka has largely looked unflappable, showing tremendous poise and positivity. She admitted her shift in demeanor and body language was deliberate, and an indication of where she currently is mentally.
“For me the main [thing] I want to take away from this tournament is just smiling and having fun,” Osaka said. “Going into this match, I just wanted to be grateful. Yeah, I mean, she’s one of the best players in the world. For me, honestly, I have the most fun when I play against the best players. I love when they hit amazing shots or they hit aces, because you know, that’s how they won the tournaments that they won.”
On Wednesday, Osaka will take on No. 11 seed Muchova in the quarterfinals. She’s come a long way since she watched Muchova play in the semifinals two years ago, but also exactly where she always believed she would be again. Osaka, who called Muchova “one of the most talented tennis players out there” on Monday, knows it will be a challenge. They have played twice since Osaka’s return, splitting the series. Osaka won their last meeting in three sets at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Osaka is undefeated in major quarterfinals during her career, but she wasn’t putting too much pressure on herself. Expected to be back into the top 20 again for the first time since 2022 following the US Open, no matter how she fares on Wednesday or beyond, she’s just excited for the opportunity.
“I feel really relaxed,” Osaka told reporters. “I don’t feel stressed at all. I think for me, I just wanted to have a better year than last year, and I already did that in Montreal. For me, whatever happens the rest of this tournament, the rest of Asia, I’m just trying to be a better tennis player and learn from every match that I play.”