Tennis: Naomi Osaka pulls out of Australian Open
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Naomi Osaka of Japan hitting a return against Australian Daria Saville at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
PHOTO: AFP
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MELBOURNE – Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Australian Open, organisers of the season’s first Grand Slam, which begins on Jan 16, announced on Sunday, without elaborating on the reason.
The former world No. 1’s name was initially on the entry list for the Melbourne Park tournament but she was not scheduled to play in warm-up tournaments in Adelaide and Hobart, raising doubts about her participation in the hard-court Slam.
“Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We will miss her at AO2023,” the tournament organisers said on Twitter. “Dayana Yastremska moves into the main draw.”
No reason for the Japanese star’s withdrawal was given.
It was another big blow for the tournament after US Open champion and world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz also withdrew on Friday with a right leg problem.
Veteran American Venus Williams will also be a no-show after injuring her ankle and knee at last week’s Auckland Classic. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and former US Open winner Emma Raducanu are slight doubts with injury issues as well.
Former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep is another not playing after she was provisionally suspended in October for taking the banned substance roxadustat.
The Australian Open is already missing its women’s champion Ashleigh Barty, who retired last March, while tennis greats Serena Williams and Roger Federer also stepped away from the game last season.
The champion in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, Osaka has not played a competitive match since pulling out of her match against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the Pan Pacific Open second round in Tokyo in September with abdominal pain.
She has since slumped to 42nd 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, she admitted she had gone through a lot of struggles in 2022.
“This year has been not the best year for me but I’ve learnt a lot about myself,” Osaka, who had admitted to battling depression, said then.
“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. AFP, REUTERS
