"I think that is all due to you, so thank you" - Naomi Osaka's agent credits Allyson Felix for changing how NIKE deals with players during pregnancies

Naomi Osaka's agent Stuart Duguid has credited Allyson Felix and her brother-cum-agent, Wes, for making it easy for him to deal with NIKE, among other sponsors, during the former World No. 1's pregnancy.

Earlier this year, Osaka took maternity leave after announcing that she was pregnant with her first child. Last month, she and her boyfriend, rapper Cordae, announced that they became parents to a baby girl, who they named Shai.

Duguid, who has been working with Osaka for eight years now, credited American Olympic legend Felix for paving the way for how sponsors deal with female athletes who go through pregnancies.

When Felix announced her pregnancy, she was asked by Nike to take a 70% pay cut, which resulted in her taking her fight with the sportswear giant public via an op-ed for the New York Times. While it eventually led to her parting ways with NIKE, the company, along with many others, later shifted its ideology to ensure pregnant women do not get unfavorable treatment.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Mountaintop Conversations by Saysh podcast, Duguid stated that he was apprehensive about how sponsors would react once he shared the news of Osaka's pregnancy with them.

“Obviously when Naomi first told me it was like just obviously delighted for her and happy for her, but then there's the moment where you realize you have to make all these calls [to the sponsors],” he said.

Duguid, who worked with Lagardere Sports and IMG before co-founding EVOLVE with Osaka, further said that almost every conversation he had with the four-time Grand Slam champion's sponsors went smoothly. He also stated that he viewed NIKE as the most important sponsor and they were very accommodating of Osaka's pregnancy thanks to Felix's fight a few years ago.

“I would say, say almost every single conversation went really, really well. I'll be very honest, the most important conversation for me and for us was probably our Nike conversation, which wasn't really a conversation thanks to what you had done. So that situation was already covered in the past. There was a cause in the contract which defined exactly what would happen if Naomi was pregnant and that all came on the back of your experience with that,” he said.

“We have to give them a lot of credit, I think they learned so many lessons from your experience too. I think they've been great with it in terms of ‘do you want to keep your line going? Do you want to do stuff in maternity? Do you want to do baby?’ Like, they've given you all the options and being great and I think that is all due to you. So, thank you,” he added.

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Naomi Osaka hopes to compete at 2024 Australian Open, hints at tennis comeback days after giving birth

Naomi Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion.

Despite being away from the WTA Tour owing to her pregnancy, Naomi Osaka stated earlier this year that she will return to action in time for the 2024 Australian Open.

"2023 will be a year that'll be full of lessons for me and I hope I'll see you guys in the start of the next one cause I'll be at Aus 2024. Love you all infinitely," she said in a social media post.

Later, after giving birth to her daughter, Shai, Osaka took to social media to hint that she was starting her comeback preparations.

"Well that was a cool little intermission, now back to your regularly scheduled program," Naomi Osaka tweeted.