Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka on Sunday pulled out of the opening Grand Slam of the year. Check it out here.
Naomi Osaka withdraws from Australian Open.
Former two-time champion Naomi Osaka of Japan has withdrawn from this year’s Australian Open, the tournament announced on Sunday. With Osaka’s withdrawal, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska moves into the main draw.
“Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We will miss her at #AO2023. Dayana Yastremska moves into the main draw,” the Australian Open tweeted on Sunday.
It was another big blow for the tournament after US Open champion and world number one Carlos Alcaraz also withdrew on Friday with a right leg problem.
Veteran American Venus Williams will also be a no-show after picking an injury at last week’s Auckland Classic.
A champion in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, Osaka has not played a competitive match since the US Open 2022, where she lost her first-round match in women’s singles to Danielle Collins of the United States in straight sets 6-7 (5-7), 3-6.
Last year in Melbourne, the former No.1 advanced to the third round, where she bowed out after losing to Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).
Osaka’s name is the latest addition to the Australian Open players’ withdrawal list. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams has also pulled out of the season’s first Grand Slam after sustaining an injury at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. World No. 1 men’s singles player Carlos Alcaraz of Spain has also pulled out of the 2023 season’s first major.
The champion in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, Osaka has not played a competitive match since pulling out of a tournament in Tokyo in September with abdominal pain and has slumped to 42 in the world rankings.
The four-time Grand Slam winner has previously talked about struggles with her mental health and spent all of 2022 outside the top 10, enduring first-round defeats at both the French and US Opens. She withdrew from Wimbledon with an Achilles’ injury.
Speaking at the Pan Pacific Open in September, she admitted she had gone through “more down than up” in 2022.
“Life is ups and downs, and this year was more down than up, but overall I’m pretty happy with where I am now.”
Reports in Australia last week said Tennis Australia had been unable to verify Osaka’s whereabouts.
Her social media accounts indicated that she had been travelling in Europe with her on-again off-again boyfriend rapper Cordae.