Naomi Osaka has shared some very disappointing news as the Japanese tennis star will not be able to participate in her hometown tournament in Osaka after suffering a back injury last week.
After losing early at the US Open, the former world number 1 started her Asian swing in Beijing with a fresh wave of energy after taking on Serena Williams’ ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The result was immediately clear: the 26-year-old won three games in a row for the first time since May.
But then her very strong and promising run came to a crushing end after a back problem forced her to retire midway through her match against Coco Gauff in the round of 16.
After skipping this week’s WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, the Japanese is also out of the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka, which will take place between October 14 and 20.
“Due to an injury, Naomi Osaka will not participate in the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka city from October 14 to 20,” the Japan Tennis Association announced.
In 2019, the four-time Grand Slam champion got the chance to play in her hometown and it was a memorable run since she won all four of her matches in straight sets to clinch the title in front of her home fans.
Since then, she hasn’t had many opportunities to play in Asia and Japan due to the pandemic, as well as injuries and other issues.
But she was due to play in Osaka in mid-October, making her first appearance in Beijing since competing in the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo two years ago.
Unfortunately, her physical condition delays that return.
“I wasn’t sure if it was her hip or back, all I knew was that she could barely jump on her serve towards the end, so I knew it was something that was probably bad at the time, but hopefully it’s something that wasn’t something for the long term,” Gauff said after Osaka stopped their match.
After Gauff confirmed to reporters that she noticed something was wrong with the Japanese, the former world number 1 released an update shedding light on what had happened.
“Hello everyone, I just wanted to say that I am extremely grateful and happy to have played in Beijing. That said, I feel like I owe a little backstory about today. So I closed my back during training earlier on and honestly wasn’t sure if I could even play but I just wanted to try, unfortunately it kept getting worse as the match went on. Totally worth it, lol,” the 26-year-old wrote on Threads.
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