The year 2009 was a special one in the life of Kim Clijsters. A year after becoming a mother, Clijsters decided to come back from her retirement and returned with a bang! In her first Grand Slam tournament on her comeback, the US Open, she clinched the title, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the summit clash. She didn’t stop there as she won a couple more major titles, thereby equaling Margaret Court’s record for most Grand Slam titles won by a mother. Years after having a major impact on the court as a mom, Kim Clijsters has spoken about the recent struggles of the newly-turned mother, Naomi Osaka.

Like Clijsters, Osaka made a comeback to tennis months after welcoming her first child. After giving birth to her daughter Shai last year, the Japanese star returned to the court earlier this season. However, her comeback hasn’t gone according to her plans as she has struggled with form and fitness.

Recently, Clijsters was present in the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast during which she spoke at length about Naomi Osaka’s return. While she acknowledged the fact that the Japanese star has struggled since her return, Clijsters felt that this was normal for any mother trying to make a comeback.

She revealed, “After coming back from having a baby, it takes time to get your body back and to get physically strong enough to recover from matches, you know, to have a few matches in a row. And yes, she’s definitely close to her best again.”

Statistically speaking, Osaka hasn’t made it beyond the quarterfinal stage after her comeback. It is an ordinary stat for a player with 4 Grand Slam titles to her name and she would aim to dig deep in the upcoming tournaments. However, the emotions seem to be getting the better of her as seen in her recent statement about motherhood.

Naomi Osaka makes an endearing confession

The clay-court season was a forgettable one for Osaka as she failed to reach even the quarterfinal stage in the tournaments she participated. During an interview at the French Open, a journalist asked Osaka, “Don’t mothers have to be clay-courters? Don’t they have to be patient? Don’t they have to be resilient? Don’t they have to react and adapt to their kids all the time?”

Although finding the question funny, Osaka got a bit emotional and made an endearing confession, saying, “I do think like moms do have to be all of those things um and there’s people that are naturally like that anyways. There’s people that are naturally like that anyways, but for me, um yeah, I am learning a lot of lessons through motherhood. And I hope that I can remember to apply them on the tennis court.”

Despite her recent struggles, Osaka is known to be a fighter and someone who can make strong comebacks. As a result, it won’t be a surprise if she finds joy in the upcoming tournaments during the grass-court season.