Trivia: When was the last time a WTA player won consecutive majors? Answer: Naomi Osaka, who took the COVID-19-era U.S. Open in 2020 and then won in Australia.
Osaka hasn’t done a lot of playing since then, one of the sport’s tentpoles lain horizontally. But now she’s back. She’s a mother. She is, by her own assertions, in a good place mentally. And for whatever ring rust might have accumulated, early indication is that she’s shaken it off. Apart from remaining the only player sharing a name with her birth city, Osaka is still a ferociously talented player, still only 26. And the state of her play will be a major story line—one that could last a day, one that could last two weeks.
Speaking of players going for a second consecutive major, Coco Gauff took the 2023 U.S. Open with a mix of offense and defense, humility and confidence. There may be no fig leaf concealing her forehand, the far less reliable of two wings. But over the last six months, few players have been able to pick on her weakness. And she now heads into a major, knowing that she can win seven matches, do so against the best players and do so at her home major, under maximal pressure. Why not run it back half a world away? Herewith, our women’s seeds report.
