An abdominal injury has ended Naomi Osaka’s Australian Open as she has withdrawn from her third round contest with Maddison Inglis.
The former Australian Open champion had advanced past Antonia Ruzic and Sorana Cirstea in order to reach the third round.
However an ab injury has ended her campaign in Melbourne early as Osaka will have to wait a bit longer for another chance to add to her Grand Slam collection.
In a short interview with journalists Osaka detailed her injury and will have tests to examine how bad the injury is, “I mean, it’s an injury I’ve had a couple of times before, and I thought I could push through it,” Osaka stated.
“I played my last match with some pain, and I thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match today, I would be able to handle it, but I warmed up, and it got a lot worse.
“I mean, I definitely have to do more tests, and obviously I think coming back from pregnancy, my body changed quite a lot. So this is something I have to be really cautious of. Yeah, I just have to, I guess, talk with a couple of doctors.”
As Osaka mentioned it was the same injury that saw her retire during the Auckland final against Clara Tauson last year and hindered her Australian Open campaign.
However Osaka is looking on the positive side for her Australian Open campaign and is pleased that in general she is healthy, “I think for me obviously it was nice that everyone enjoyed my outfit, but also, I enjoyed playing the tennis here,” Osaka admitted.
“I played two three-set matches, and I felt really physically healthy. Well, I guess, not my ab, but just fitness-wise it felt really good. Yeah, I’m just grateful to be otherwise very healthy, and I hope that I’m able to play some good tennis for the rest of the year.”
Inglis will now face world number two Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter-finals.
