In the wake of Carlos Alcaraz‘s high-profile split from his longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, former WTA World No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka made an equally and potentially more astounding career decision this week.
Osaka is splitting with her longtime agent Stuart Duguid and Evolve, the agency they established together in 2022.
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Evolve has an impressive list of clients including the current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, Anna Kalinskaya, Eva Lys, and Iva Jovic in the WTA and Terence Atmane and Nick Kyrgios in the ATP.
It is also the agency behind the controversial December 28, 2025 “Battle of the Sexes” match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios.
She was involved in producing the first season of the “Good Trouble” podcast hosted by Kyrgios, but her name is not mentioned in the recent announcement of the second season moving to Tubi. Osaka appeared as a guest on the podcast and playing mixed doubles with him at the reimagined US Open mixed doubles championship. It is unclear if this business decision will impact this friendship.
Naomi Osaka At A Career Crossroads
Osaka was not on the 2025 list of Forbes Top 10 highest paying tennis players, factoring earnings and endorsements. In 2024, she was eighth, ninth in 2023, and second in 2022 and 2021.
Since developing her own agency, Osaka’s life has drastically changed. She has become a mother, and her tennis career was on hiatus when she announced her pregnancy in 2023.
Osaka came back to tennis in 2024. She has not contended for a Grand Slam title in five years since winning the 2021 Australian Open. Osaka won four Grand Slams, all on hardcourts at the Australian Open and US Open, between 2018 and 2021. During that time, she achieved the World No. 1 ranking (January 2019).
She has spoken publicly about not sticking around tennis if she cannot be competitive. Osaka enjoys motherhood and is a single parent so it would not be surprising if she leaves pro tennis behind by age 30.
Obviously, Evolve was not where she wanted to be in the long term. Tennis players have become astute business people and entrepreneurs off the court so it will be interesting to see what Naomi Osaka’s next move is.
