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Naomi Osaka's WTA comeback has hit full stride during sweltering Brisbane training sessions, while a stacked field attempt to qualify in the event's return.
A "pumped" Naomi Osaka has spent her first Christmas as a mother sweating it out on Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane as her tennis return draws closer.
The former world No.1 will make her WTA comeback at the Brisbane International, which is making a return of its own four years after it was last contested by men and women.
She has hit the ground running in Brisbane ahead of a tournament that begins on Sunday and is seen as crucial preparation for the Australian Open next month.
The 26-year-old practised for the first time on Christmas Day and hit the court again in humid conditions on Wednesday morning.
"She's really pumped, excited to be back in Brisbane," tournament director Cameron Pearson said.
"She arrived Christmas morning and was out practising a few hours later.
"No Christmas pudding for her, she was straight into it."
A two-time Australian and US Open champion, Osaka was a surprise scratching from last year's Melbourne Park major before later revealing she was pregnant.
The Japanese superstar and her American rapper boyfriend Cordae welcomed daughter Shai into the world in Los Angeles in July.
Osaka has only played one game, let alone a match, since the 2021 US Open in New York.
She was leading Daria Gavrilova 1-0 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September 2021, before the Australian tore an anterior cruciate ligament.
Osaka forfeited her second-round match before taking time out to have her first child.
Rafael Nadal is also set to return from injury in Brisbane in a field so stacked Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem will have to qualify.
Thiem made the Australian Open final in 2020 and Berrettini was a semi-finalist two years later.
Both are currently sitting outside the top-60 cut off that were afforded automatic entry into the season-opening event.
Former world No.8 Diego Schwartzman and Australian crew Aleksandar Vukic (62), Thanasi Kokkinakis (65), Chris O'Connell (68), Rinky Hijikata (71), Jason Kubler (102) and James Duckworth (116) were also listed in qualifying, which will be contested on Friday and Saturday.
Vukic and Hijikata subsequently earned wildcards to join compatriots Alexei Popyrin (world No.40), Max Purcell (45) and Jordan Thompson (55) in the main draw.
Holger Rune (8) is the highest-ranked male in the field while American Ben Shelton and three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray (42) will add further punch.
"The more of us in the top 100, the better," Vukic said of the surging Australian male contingent.
"And it's pretty cool (to have Nadal in the draw).
"You play your whole life to come up against the best ... if they're coming you want to face them."
Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, along with Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin and Sloane Stephens complete a stacked women's draw.
