Naomi Osaka is back on court practicing for her Australian Open title defense.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who has not played since losing to Leylah Fernandez in the US Open third round, shared shots of her training on Instagram.
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Among the images on Osaka’s Instagram post is an Australian Open tennis ball.
Osaka made an inspired run through the 2021 Australian Open field defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Garbine Muguruza, Hsieh Su-Wei, Serena Williams and Jennifer Brady to win the Melbourne major.
“Kind of rusty, but it feels good to be back,” Osaka captioned these shots on Instagram. “I really want to say thank you everyone for all the kind messages. I really appreciate it.”
The 2022 Australian Open starts on January 17th.
Photo credit: Getty