Naomi Osaka Gets Honest About Whether She Wants Her Daughter Shai To Play Tennis and Discloses Her True Priority

Naomi Osaka reflected on whether she would like her daughter Shai to pursue professional tennis one day, while emphasizing the values she hopes to instill above all else.

In July 2023, Osaka welcomed Shai with her former partner, Cordae, a hip-hop and trap artist from Raleigh, and has since embraced motherhood with renewed perspective.

Naomi Osaka Makes Feelings Clear on Whether She Wants Daughter Shai To Follow in Her Footsteps and Play Tennis

By the time Osaka became a mother, she had already secured four Grand Slam singles titles and established herself among the sport’s leading figures. During her pregnancy, the Japanese star stepped away briefly before making her competitive return in 2024.

Motherhood requires unwavering dedication, and managing it while competing at the highest level of tennis adds another layer of challenge. Osaka has embraced motherhood wholeheartedly and offered a candid look at her evolving priorities and the challenge of balancing elite tennis with parenting in Tubi’s documentary series Naomi Osaka: The Second Set, released in August last year.

Recently, the four-time Grand Slam champion spoke again about her daughter in an interview with Hypebeast. Among the questions posed was whether she would like Shai to follow in her footsteps.

Osaka responded that she will support her daughter if she chooses tennis but will never pressure her into it. While Shai already plays with a racket, Osaka’s main priority is shaping her character and creating a nurturing environment where she can grow, learn and explore freely.

“If she wants to play tennis, she can. I’m never going to stop her from doing anything that she wants to do,” she said. 

“I think it’s kind of inevitable because when I was young, I also wanted to do the things that my mom did. My daughter has her own little tennis racket, and she sometimes hits the ball. But I think I am focused more on her character and how she grows up to be as a person. I want to create a really good environment around her so that she’s able to grow and learn and explore as best that she can.”

MORE: Naomi Osaka Makes Her Feelings Known on ‘Tremendous’ Struggles After Giving Birth to Her Daughter Shai

On the competitive front, the former world No. 1 last featured at the 2026 Australian Open. She opened her campaign with a gritty three-set victory over Antonia Ružić before grinding out another tough win against Sorana Cîrstea.

Her run in Melbourne, however, was cut short due to an abdominal injury, forcing her to withdraw ahead of her third-round clash and hand a walkover to Maddison Inglis. She has not competed since, and it remains to be seen when she returns to the court.