AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Naomi Osaka's fitness for the Australian Open is in question after the four-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 suffered an apparent abdominal injury Sunday while playing the final of a WTA tournament in Auckland.
Osaka had won the first set of the final 6-4 against Denmark's Clara Tauson when she spoke to her coach Patrick Mouratoglou, the chair umpire and a tour trainer before deciding to withdraw.
The nature of her injury wasn't immediately clear but seemed to be abdominal, not the back injury she suffered at the China Open in October and which ended her 2024 season.
Osaka was in tears as she sat waiting for the trainer. She then left the court to a subdued ovation as spectators before returning for the prizegiving.
“I just want to thank everyone for welcoming me to such a beautiful city," Osaka said. "I had a lot of fun playing here and I’m really sorry about how it ended but I hope that you enjoyed the tennis that we did play. I’m just really grateful to be here.”
Osaka had led 5-1 with two breaks of serve when she began to look tighter, with less power in her serve. She managed to take out the first set before indicating she couldn't continue.
Osaka returned to tennis at the start of 2024 after a lengthy break following the birth of her daughter Shai.
The Auckland final was her first since her return to tennis and had she won, it would have been her first title of any kind since the 2021 Australian Open.
Osaka's injury came after a good week in Auckland. As the tournament unfolded and she grew stronger, the four-time Grand Slam winner and former No. 1 had spoken of how childbirth and her absence for the tour had changed her perspective and hardened her mindset.
“There are moments where it’s really difficult, where I do get down on myself,” Osaka said earlier this week. “But then I just kind of realized I was pregnant not so long ago and I just really wanted the opportunity to play again.
“Now I’m finally here and I’m putting up really good fights and I hope that I can keep continuing this way.”
Osaka was the seventh seed in Auckland on her entry ranking of 57 and won her way to the final, beating Lina Glushko of Israel, Julia Grabher of Austria and Hailey Baptiste and Alicia Parks of the United States, dropping only one set.
“I want to take every match seriously and if someone does beat me, I want it to be the fight of their life,” Osaka said. “I want to build that reputation within the community of tennis. I just hope that I can grow to fight for everything.”
“Last year it was really difficult to get that mindset and you could see that in a lot of my matches. The tennis was there throughout the year but it was more of a mindset thing and now here I think I’m ready for the battles.”
Osaka said her absence from tennis after childbirth had given her a new perspective.
“I feel like a veteran and also a newbie at the same time,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been out of the game periodically to the point where I accept the fact that I’m playing new people because they are new people that come into the game every year and obviously I was out for a year and some change.
“I’m very curious the type of people that these young players are. I feel a lot of responsibility and I also feel like I haven’t been the greatest role model at times. But I’m also, I guess, learning and trying my best every year.”
“I do feel a little sad that my great role model is gone, which is Serena and, of course, Venus. And I hope that I’m able to play as many years as them and build a really good foundation for the sport.”
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The Associated Press
