Osaka is back!

Aside Nadal’s return for the Brisbane International, former No. 1 and new mommy Naomi Osaka is planning to compete.

Osaka will make her WTA debut in the Pat Rafter Arena competition, which begins on Sunday. Osaka, a two-time Australian and US Open champion, withdrew from last year’s Australian Open in Melbourne after learning she was pregnant.

Since the 2021 US Open in New York, Osaka has only played one game. She had a 1-0 lead over Daria Gavrilova at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2021 when the Australian suffered a major knee injury and had to retire.

“She’s really pumped, she’s really excited to be back in Brisbane,” event director Cameron Pearson said on Wednesday. “She arrived on Christmas morning and was practicing just a few hours later.” “There was no Christmas pudding for her; she dug right in.”

The 32-man ATP field for Brisbane is so strong that Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem must qualify to compete.

Thiem reached the Australian Open final in 2020, while Berrettini reached the semi-finals two years later. Both are currently outside of the top-60 cut-off for automatic participation into the season-opening event.

Holger Rune at 8th place, is the tournament’s highest-ranked male. Also competing are American Ben Shelton and three-time Grand Slam singles champion Andy Murray.

The 54-player women’s draw includes reigning Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin, and Sloane Stephens.