Naomi Osaka and the cruelty of tennis comebacks

Naomi Osaka's Grand Slam comeback started just after 9:30 pm local time on Monday with a slow and deliberate walk across the Rod Laver Arena court in a technicolor warm-up jacket that demanded attention, just as she always did.

Within two minutes of the start she had two aces. A minute later, she hit her left thigh with her left hand as she waited to receive the serve from her opponent, Caroline Garcia, just as she had always done, especially on this court, where she has won two of her four Grand Prix . Slam titles. The woman who not so long ago was the heart of her sport gave everything again, the biggest comeback in a tournament full of them.

This Australian Open, at least for the first week, was always going to be all about comebacks with bold names.

Osaka, back after more than a year of injuries, pregnancy and caring for her six-month-old daughter Shai. Rafael Nadal, whose comeback from hip surgery ended after three tune-up matches and never reached Melbourne. Angelique Kerber, like Osaka, former world number 1 and new mother. Caroline Wozniacki, who took the next step after retiring last summer after more than three years and having two children.

Denis Shapovalov, only recently a young and rising star from Canada, was here, not so young anymore at 24 and certainly no longer standing after six months of recovery from a tear in his patellar tendon. Amanda Anisimova from the United States returns after a year of taking care of her mental health. Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, the 2021 US Open champion, is back after surgery on two wrists and one ankle. She will play on Tuesday against American veteran Shelby Rogers, who is not a well-known name but is sidelined after six months with an abdominal injury.

On Day 1, Anisimova showed the promise and strength that once made her seem destined for deep runs at many Grand Slams. Wozniacki, the former world No. 1, claimed the kind of sure victory that made it seem like anything was possible.

And then on Day 2 came reminders of how challenging comebacks can be in this heartless game.

Andy Murray showed they can be cautionary tales too, stumbling and wincing through the final games of what may have been his final match at the Australian Open after five frustrating years trying to rediscover his former greatness following hip surgery.

After a daunting and decisive 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 defeat against Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, Murray, also a former world No. 1, had some words of caution about the emotional toll of a comeback on anyone trying to return after an extended time away from the game, especially the very best.

“It's really hard,” said Murray, who also returned from back surgery earlier in his career. “It's not common for players to come back eight, nine months or a year after the game and immediately start feeling great. It takes time.

“For me it never really came back this time, so when you were playing at the top of the game it's hard to change your perspective on how you should perform and how you should do it. I had the highest expectations, and a lot of players coming back, like Osaka and Wozniacki, Kerber, Rafa… they've all played at the top of the game. It's difficult when you come back and you're not at the same level.”

There's nothing like a comeback in tennis, a game that essentially punishes players for their absence.

Ranking points disappear. There is no job protection like that available to an athlete in a team sport, with an organization committed to managing rehab, if only to save the value from a contract. There are no practice starts without consequences in the minor leagues to ease the transition to the top competition.

For older players, the match, the training and the matches all hurt more.

“I played for so many years and was able to push my body to the limit almost every day for that entire time,” Wozniacki said. “Now I just really have to be more careful about what I do and how I do things.”

Usually there is suffering, through long months of more losses than wins and trying to rediscover the feeling and timing and the freedom to play again without worrying whether the next shot will end up being the last.

“You see so many guys struggling when they come back,” Shapovalov said Monday after his straight-set loss to Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, an 18-year-old ranked 142nd in the world.

Shapovalov said he experienced some dark moments in recent months, moments when he felt like he might have played his last tennis match, and that he finally started to feel healthy enough to compete toward the end of last year. Now he had come to the southern hemisphere and lost two of the two matches.

His friend James Blake, himself a former top 10 player, said it could take eight to nine games for Shapovalov to start feeling like himself again. Sebastian Korda, the American who is several months into his comeback after a serious wrist injury he first suffered in last year's quarter-finals, said on Monday he was still learning to play again.

“Every training you were hesitating and always thinking about it,” Korda said after a five-set victory against Vit Kopriva. “There's still a lot that hasn't really come back.”

Shapovalov did not want to take that scenario into account.

“I don't feel like I'm a guy who pursues mediocre tennis or pursues mediocre results,” he said. “It's definitely something I'm thinking about if I can't get 100 percent back that I wouldn't play again.”

Osaka and her coach, Wim Fissette, said in December they were not concerned about her results in Australia. Osaka started practicing in October, just three months after giving birth. These first tournaments would give them information about how far she had come and how far she still had to go. The goal, Fissette said, is to be in top form this summer during the hard-court swing in North America that culminates with the US Open, a tournament she has won twice.

Now they know she still has a long way to go, at least to reach the top.

On the way to the court, she tapped her name on the wall symbolizing her championships, an ancient ritual. But in Garcia, Osaka faced No. 16, who has been a mainstay of the top 10 for most of the last year and a half, is a big hitter and is not a player anyone would want to face in their first Grand Slam match in 15 months . For most of the match, she did to Osaka what Osaka did to everyone else: she took the initiative, stepped onto the court and let them deal with the kind of power and pace that put players back on their heels and struggling to reach their goal . strings on the ball before it passed them.

There were moments when Osaka was able to pass the test, stand on the baseline and match the power, but not enough, not yet. Comebacks are difficult and tennis rarely indulges in sentimentality.

She served 11 aces, but Garcia had 13. She won 78 percent of the points on her first serve; Garcia won 89 percent. She lost her serve only once and faced only three break points; Garcia never lost her serve and never faced a break point.

She pushed Garcia to a tiebreak in the second set, but lost five straight points to end the match as she was unable to chase down Garcia's rocket serves, and her night ended when a backhand hit the top of the net and failed to clear.

Garcia skipped and jumped across the court when it was ready, knowing how well she would have had to play to survive a tough test to start the first Grand Slam of the year.

“She's been through a lot, I'm just really happy to see her again,” Garcia said of Osaka. “Six months after giving birth, she is playing great.”

Osaka said she was grateful for the past few weeks and having played three tough matches that assured her she could compete with the top competition, but was a little sad about the results.

“I'm so foolish to think I could have won the tournament,” she said. That delusion “is what allows me to win tournaments.”

Not this time. Maybe down the street. A comeback is difficult.

(Top photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images)