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Naomi Osaka
Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has confirmed she will not play at the Australian Open, adding her name to a growing list of notable withdrawals. Organizers confirmed in a tweet on Sunday that Japan's Osaka, the Open champion in 2019 and 2021, will not be playing in Melbourne. Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We will miss her at #AO2023, the tweet said. The 25-year-old Osaka's ranking has slipped to 47 and she hasn't played since September after withdrawing during the second round in Tokyo. She won her first round match at that tournament when Australia's Daria Saville withdrew after one game with a knee injury. Osaka won only one completed match since May and was beaten in the first round of her three previous tournaments, including the US Open at which she also is a two-time champion. Last week she posted pictures on social media of a trip to Europe with her United States rapper boyfriend Cordae and had been considered unlikely to play in the first Grand Slam of
The welcome and support for Venus Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon were not the same as they were for her sister, Serena, a night earlier. Nor was the result. Venus, who turned 42 in June, has not made any pronouncements about her future in tennis, unlike her younger sibling, and while she has been successful and influential, too a seven-time Grand Slam champion; a Black woman in a predominantly white sport the fanfare and attention are not the same. Playing in front of thousands of empty blue seats in an arena quite silent at the start, although growing louder later, Venus bowed out in the first round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive appearance, losing 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck. She means so much to female tennis. Tennis, in general, Van Uytvanck said. She's a legend. This was the 23rd trip to Flushing Meadows for Venus, who made it to the final in 1997 as a teen then won the trophy in 2000 and 2001, and her record 91st time participating
Naomi Osaka walked off the court, headed toward the locker room and layed down, draping a towel over her face. Out-hit in Arthur Ashe Stadium by another big hitter, Danielle Collins, two-time U.S. Open champion Osaka was left to contemplate a second consecutive first-round loss at a Grand Slam tournament. Collins reached her first major final at the Australian Open in January and displayed that same sort of hard-court talent with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Osaka in a shotmaking showdown that ended after Tuesday turned to Wednesday at Flushing Meadows. I'm the type of person that thinks a lot, to the point where I overthink. Sometimes when I play matches, I have to tell myself to stop thinking, just go more on instinct, said Osaka, who's been bothered by a bad back lately. I feel like I just have to chill a little bit, because there's a lot of like random chaos in my head right now. Last season, Osaka took two extended mental health breaks, including after her third-round exit in Ne
Naomi Osaka's return to the French Open has ended in the first round. The former top-ranked player lost her opening match to Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-4 at Roland Garros on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion who took two mental health breaks last season. That included one that began when she withdrew before her second-round match at the French Open. Anisimova is a 20-year-old American who reached the French Open semifinals in 2019. She also beat Osaka in the third round at the Australian Open in January. Osaka double-faulted twice on break point, once in each set. After the second, which gave Anisimova a 4-3 lead, Osaka took a 40-0 lead in the next game but the American held. Osaka played with tape on her left Achilles. She was stretching it and kicking it with her right foot when she was broken in the seventh game of the second set.