Casey Dellacqua has expressed her delight at the return of Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, and Caroline Wozniacki to the Australian Open in 2024, marking their first time at the Slam in Melbourne since the former World No. 1's became mothers.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka withdrew from the 2023 edition of the tournament days before it was due to begin as she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. The 25-year-old went on to welcome her baby daughter Shai in July.

Meanwhile, Kerber, who has three major titles to her name, last competed on the WTA Tour in June 2022, before revealing her pregnancy in August and giving birth to her daughter in February 2023.

Following this, Wozniacki returned to the sport in August 2023 after three and a half years away, during which time she welcomed two children with her NBA star husband David Lee. The Dane last competed at the Australian Open back in 2020.

In a recent episode of The AO Show podcast, Australian former tennis player and doubles champion Dellacqua expressed her joy at seeing the three big names back on the courts in Melbourne.

"The mums are back. The mums are ready to be on court, and as you said, I think, those three players [Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, and Caroline Wozniacki] have all had such great success at the Australian Open, in particular. So I think that is a really exciting kind of pace," she said.

All three players have won the Australian Open before. Wozniacki claimed her only Grand Slam title to date at Melbourne Park in 2018, while Kerber won her first of three there in 2016. Osaka has won the major twice, defeating Petra Kvitova to lift the trophy in 2019 before ousting Jennifer Brady for the title in 2021.