Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is set to start her grass season at a WTA 250 tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the tournament announced.
Osaka, 26, has never played on the grass courts of ‘s-Hertogenbosch before and this year’s appearance will mark her debut at the Dutch tournament.
By signing up for ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Osaka also revealed that she plans to start her grass season right from Week 1 as the tournament is slated to kick off on June 10th, just a day after the French Open ends.
𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒐𝒎𝒊 𝑶𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒂 🇯🇵👋
Four-time Grand Slam champion and former number one of the world Osaka joins the field of participants and will make her debut in the Netherlands.
Tickets are still available 👉 https://t.co/OGuhwv0O0X#LibemaOpen #LO2024 pic.twitter.com/4rzYydVWnB
— Libéma Open🎾 (@LibemaOpen) May 28, 2024
Osaka starting her grass season early and indicating that she will have a loaded schedule during the grass season isn’t really a surprise considering that she revealed earlier this year that one of her big post-pregnancy goals was to become a better player on grass and clay.
Osaka kept her promise during the clay season as the French Open is her fourth tournament on the dirt.
Now, Osaka seems to be preparing to also play at least three tournaments during the upcoming grass season.
Osaka will play in ‘s-Hertogenbosch after the French Open
On Sunday, Osaka survived a tight opener at Roland Garros as she edged out Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 4-6 7-5 to set up a second-round meeting versus world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. For Osaka, playing Swiatek is a wish come true as the former world No. 1 previously said she would really like to play the Pole.
And ahead of the match, Osaka also received some very kind words from Swiatek.
“Really impressed. I think, you know, she’s a great person, and her game style is, you know, pretty fun to watch as well,” Swiatek said of Osaka.
“I haven’t actually played against Naomi obviously on clay, so we’ll see how that’s going to go. We need to prepare tactically, for sure. But all these matches that we played on hard court were always really intense and tough. So I’m just glad that she came back and she’s playing more tournaments even than before the break… I’m happy that she’s playing well.”