This time last year, she gave birth to daughter Shai, and began season 2024 unranked.

With her win over Parry, she is projected to return to the world’s top 100.

“Before my match I was looking at my photo album. Like, they have that feature ‘this time last year’. I was looking at that. I was looking at photos of myself in the hospital,” revealed Osaka, who improves to 16-12 this season and is competing at Wimbledon for the first time in five years.

“The way that I want to play now is an evolution of how I played before. I know I would need the results to back it up, but I think certain aspects of my game are better. I guess I just need to put the pieces together.

“I feel like as an overall athlete, I might be a little bit better now just because back then I would get injured, some parts of my body would be hurting. Now, the way that I train, I don’t have pain anymore.”

Osaka began her comeback promisingly in Brisbane, and many predicted that, given she was a two-time Australian Open champion, she would score the first Grand Slam wins of her return on Melbourne Park’s hard courts.

The fact those first major wins have instead come on clay at Roland Garros, and grass at Wimbledon, reflect that evolution.

Osaka was lauded for her commitment to improving on clay, and she almost pulled off an upset for the ages at Roland Garros, holding a match point against Iga Swiatek. It was by far the toughest match for the world No.1, who subsequently stormed to her third consecutive title in Paris.

MORE: Osaka proud after almost pulling off greatest upset of Swiatek

With its lower bounces, surface slickness and faster pace, grass has long been a challenge for many players, especially because it appears so immediately after the clay-court swing.

But Osaka rolled up her sleeves and jumped onto it, coming within a few points of the ‘s-Hertogenbosch semifinals, then pushing top-10 star Zheng Qinwen to three sets in Berlin.

Lining up against Parry – a recent semifinalist on grass in Nottingham – Osaka was already playing her fifth match on the lawns, a complete contrast from previous seasons when she skipped the grass-court swing entirely.

This year marks the first time she has played competitively on grass since 2019, and against Parry she was targeting her first win at Wimbledon since a second-round victory over Katie Boulter in 2018.

Osaka was practically flawless in the first set, striking 11 winners to zero and dropping just one game. But Parry responded to win the second set by the same scoreline, and built a 3-1 lead in the third.

The Frenchwoman also held break points in the ninth game; had she converted either, she would have served for the match at 5-4.

Osaka erased one break point with a 185km/h ace up the T, before breaking Parry in the very next game to advance.

“I feel like today honestly felt very hectic just because of the way she played. I felt that I had to constantly tell myself to be in control of the point. When she was slicing and stuff, it was a little stressful,” Osaka admitted.

“I feel really relieved to have won this in three sets. I think it will do good for my character development.

“I guess I’m just excited to play my next match.”