diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 548df52f29d..f831bd10f43 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 * Fix #4534: Java Generator CLI default handling of skipGeneratedAnnotations
 * Fix #4535: The shell command string will now have single quotes sanitized
 * Fix #4543: (Java Generator) additionalProperties JsonAny setter method generated as setAdditionalProperty
+* Fix #4641: fixed regression with missing initial watch event
 * Fix #4547: preventing timing issues with leader election cancel
 * Fix #4540: treating GenericKubernetesResource and RawExtension as buildable
 * Fix #4569: fixing jdk httpclient regression with 0 timeouts
diff --git a/junit/kubernetes-junit-jupiter/src/main/java/io/fabric8/junit/jupiter/KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.java b/junit/kubernetes-junit-jupiter/src/main/java/io/fabric8/junit/jupiter/KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.java
index ddf5da43c80..07b06d6efe8 100644
--- a/junit/kubernetes-junit-jupiter/src/main/java/io/fabric8/junit/jupiter/KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.java
+++ b/junit/kubernetes-junit-jupiter/src/main/java/io/fabric8/junit/jupiter/KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.java
@@ -39,9 +39,6 @@
 
 public class KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension implements BeforeAllCallback, BeforeEachCallback, AfterAllCallback {
 
-  private static final ExtensionContext.Namespace EXT_NAMESPACE = ExtensionContext.Namespace
-      .create(KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.class);
-
   @Override
   public void beforeAll(ExtensionContext context) throws Exception {
     final KubernetesClient client = new KubernetesClientBuilder().build();
@@ -82,7 +79,9 @@ static KubernetesClient getClient(ExtensionContext context) {
   }
 
   private static ExtensionContext.Store getStore(ExtensionContext context) {
-    return context.getRoot().getStore(EXT_NAMESPACE);
+    ExtensionContext.Namespace namespace = ExtensionContext.Namespace.create(KubernetesNamespacedTestExtension.class,
+        context.getRequiredTestClass());
+    return context.getRoot().getStore(namespace);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatchConnectionManager.java b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatchConnectionManager.java
index 3404f802be3..5f8416b12db 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatchConnectionManager.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatchConnectionManager.java
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ public class WatchConnectionManager<T extends HasMetadata, L extends KubernetesR
 
   protected WatcherWebSocketListener<T> listener;
   private volatile CompletableFuture<WebSocket> websocketFuture;
-  private WebSocket websocket;
 
   private volatile boolean ready;
 
@@ -86,8 +85,10 @@ public WatchConnectionManager(final HttpClient client, final BaseOperation<T, L,
   }
 
   @Override
-  protected synchronized void closeRequest() {
-    closeWebSocket(websocket);
+  protected void closeRequest() {
+    if (this.listener != null) {
+      this.listener.close();
+    }
     Optional.ofNullable(this.websocketFuture).ifPresent(theFuture -> {
       this.websocketFuture = null;
       theFuture.whenComplete((w, t) -> {
@@ -98,22 +99,10 @@ protected synchronized void closeRequest() {
     });
   }
 
-  synchronized WatcherWebSocketListener<T> getListener() {
-    return listener;
-  }
-
   public CompletableFuture<WebSocket> getWebsocketFuture() {
     return websocketFuture;
   }
 
-  @Override
-  protected void onMessage(String message) {
-    // for consistency we only want to process the message when we're open
-    if (this.websocketFuture != null) {
-      super.onMessage(message);
-    }
-  }
-
   @Override
   protected void start(URL url, Map<String, String> headers) {
     this.listener = new WatcherWebSocketListener<>(this);
@@ -147,7 +136,6 @@ protected void start(URL url, Map<String, String> headers) {
       }
       if (w != null) {
         this.ready = true;
-        this.websocket = w;
       }
       return w;
     });
diff --git a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatcherWebSocketListener.java b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatcherWebSocketListener.java
index 29ebee897b4..26fc9acb875 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatcherWebSocketListener.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/dsl/internal/WatcherWebSocketListener.java
@@ -22,13 +22,15 @@
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
 class WatcherWebSocketListener<T extends HasMetadata> implements WebSocket.Listener {
   protected static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(WatcherWebSocketListener.class);
 
   protected final AbstractWatchManager<T> manager;
 
-  private boolean reconnected = false;
+  private AtomicBoolean reconnected = new AtomicBoolean();
+  private AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean();
 
   protected WatcherWebSocketListener(AbstractWatchManager<T> manager) {
     this.manager = manager;
@@ -48,10 +50,8 @@ public void onError(WebSocket webSocket, Throwable t) {
 
   @Override
   public void onMessage(WebSocket webSocket, String text) {
-    // onMesssage and onClose are serialized, but it's not specified if onError
-    // may occur simultaneous with onMessage.  So we prevent concurrent processing
     try {
-      synchronized (this) {
+      if (!closed.get()) {
         manager.onMessage(text);
       }
     } finally {
@@ -71,11 +71,14 @@ public void onClose(WebSocket webSocket, int code, String reason) {
     scheduleReconnect();
   }
 
-  private synchronized void scheduleReconnect() {
-    if (!reconnected) {
+  private void scheduleReconnect() {
+    if (reconnected.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
       manager.scheduleReconnect();
-      reconnected = true;
     }
   }
 
+  public void close() {
+    closed.set(true);
+  }
+
 }