Where is Naomi Osaka playing next? Four-time major winner takes Abu Dhabi wild card

Leading into to the Australian Open, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka stated that she wanted to load up on tournament play in her comeback season after becoming a first-time mother last July to daughter Shai.

“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,” Osaka told Japanese press.

“For me right now, my schedule's kind of packed with the tournaments that I want to play.”

On Monday, we learned where Osaka would compete next following a two-tournament swing Down Under.

The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open has revealed that the former world No. 1 has accepted a wild card into the 500-level tournament, which begins February 3. Osaka won her 2024 debut in Brisbane, before being edged out by Karolina Pliskova and later Caroline Garcia at Melbourne Park in two defeats that weren’t short on quality hitting from the 26-year-old.

Osaka is expected to join several standout players looking to bounce back from earlier-than-expected exits at the season’s first major. Among the entrants include Top 10 players Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko, who were all knocked out before the fourth round of the Australian Open. Garcia, who fell in Melbourne directly after eliminating Osaka in their first-round blockbuster, is also on the list of confirmed competitors that boasts ten of the WTA's current Top 20.

Emma Raducanu was previously announced as a wild card recipient. The 2021 US Open winner launched her own return to the women’s tour at Auckland in January following an eight-month absence to recover from double wrist and ankle surgeries.

A new champion will be crowned this year in Abu Dhabi. The 2023 title holder, Belinda Bencic, shared that she was pregnant with her first child in November.