Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Wimbledon Due to ‘Achilles’ Injury
Naomi Osaka, the former world number one, withdrew from Wimbledon on Saturday due to an Achilles ailment.
“My Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time,” the four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka posted on Twitter.
After the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players in retaliation to the invasion of Ukraine, Osaka, 24, was already considering not playing because of the ATP and WTA tours’ decision to deduct ranking points from Wimbledon.
Osaka’s tweet was accompanied by a photo of herself on a grass court and an emoji of a blade of grass, while not expressly referencing Wimbledon.
The Japanese star first developed an Achilles problem in her first encounter in Madrid in May, causing her to withdraw from the Italian Open the following month.
“Here’s me running on an underwater treadmill because my Achilles is still being difficult, I must be aging or something.” she captioned a video of a training activity she shared on social media earlier this month.
Although Osaka’s name appeared on the Wimbledon singles registration list when it was announced last week, she has yet to compete in any of the grass-court warm-up events.
After losing in the first round of the French Open last month, Osaka, who has never advanced past the third round at the All England Club, raised the prospect of missing the grass court Grand Slam.
“Given the current conditions, I’m leaning toward not playing.” “I’m the type of gamer who gets pumped up when my rating rises,” she explained.
“I feel like it’s more like an exhibition if I play Wimbledon without points,” she continued.
“This measure had a nice goal, but the implementation was all over the place.”
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, who pulled out of the season’s third Grand Slam on Friday, preceded Osaka in withdrawing.
The absence of world ranking points didn’t mesh with the Canadian’s intentions to manage her recovery from injury, she added.
The names of both players were missing from a recently updated players’ list.
Osaka has reached it to the third round of the competition twice, in 2017 and 2018, with her most recent appearance in 2019.
