Naomi Osaka is trying to remain upbeat after being forced to withdraw from the Australian Open due to an abdominal injury.
The former champion made a good start to her third round contest with Belinda Bencic after taking a 4-1 lead.
However it ultimately ended in heartbreak as Osaka lost the opening set tiebreak 7-3 and was forced to withdraw due to an abdominal injury.
It is the same injury that forced her to withdraw from the Auckland final and Osaka said it was hectic to try and even be competitive in Melbourne, “Update on my injury, it’s not fantastic, and I’m feeling — I mean, not great, not bad. In the middle somewhere,” Osaka started her press conference by saying.
“I mean, it was a little hectic trying to manage it, because obviously my draw was quite tough. But we were also doing everything we could, like I was going to therapy every day and stuff like that into the night.
“So the days have been very long for me. Obviously after my last match it got way worse. So credit to her for being such a good opponent. But yeah, it was just, I guess, a little inevitable, but I think the competitor in me just wanted to see it through until the end.”
It’s a disappointing end to what was an encouraging tournament from Osaka who defeated Caroline Garcia and Karolina Muchova to get to the third round.
Although it’s difficult at the moment Osaka has admitted she is trying to find the positives in the tournament she has played in Melbourne, “Yes, but I also feel like the positives is why I’m negative, because I feel like if I could have served, then I could have potentially won, and I could have maybe gone far in the tournament,” Osaka reflected.
“So it’s kind of hard just to, like, stay in the moment sometimes in regards to, like, getting injured, because obviously I was in the final in Auckland, too, and it sucks, because I also think I could have maybe won that tournament and it could have been, like, my first tournament win back.
“But yeah, I do have to see it as I think I played really well today regardless of the fact that I was injured. And it was really fun to play, like, such a close battle. I thought the points were fun while I was playing them. Yeah, I just hope that I can, I guess, figure it out and figure out how to get healthy in time.”
Should Osaka feel better then her next tournament will take place on the 3rd of February in Abu Dhabi.
