{"id":827252,"date":"2025-02-15T11:14:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T17:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/naomi-osaka-stops-playing-australian-open-match-because-of-injury\/"},"modified":"2025-02-15T11:14:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T17:14:39","slug":"naomi-osaka-stops-playing-australian-open-match-because-of-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/naomi-osaka-stops-playing-australian-open-match-because-of-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka stops playing Australian Open match because of injury"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two-time\u00a0Australian Open\u00a0champion\u00a0Naomi Osaka\u00a0stopped playing because of a strained abdominal muscle after dropping the opening set of her third-round match against Belinda Bencic on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of have a history of it, since I was a teenager. At least once a year, I\u2019d get an ab strain. For me, I want to say it\u2019s more the way my serve is \u2014 it\u2019s quite explosive,\u201d Osaka said, explaining that she got hurt at a tournament in Beijing, where she retired from a match against Coco Gauff on Oct. 1. \u201cUnfortunately, it carried on over to the beginning of this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Osaka\u2019s first run to the\u00a0third round at a major tournament since 2022. She missed time in recent seasons because of mental-health breaks, then was off the tour while pregnant.<\/p>\n

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\"Naomi<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Naomi Osaka waves to the crowd after retiring from her third-round match at the Australian Open because of an injury on Jan. 17, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her daughter, Shai,\u00a0was born in July 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n

Osaka began 2025 by making it to the final of a tournament at Auckland, New Zealand, on Jan. 5, but she stopped playing in the title match there because of the abdominal injury.<\/p>\n

Then, she said, the problem got \u201cway worse\u201d after her second-round win in Melbourne on Wednesday against 2023 French Open finalist Karolina Muchova.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, I guess, a little inevitable, but I think the competitor in me just wanted to see it through to the end,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cI just hope that I can figure it out and figure out how to get healthy in time\u201d before the tour heads to events at Indian Wells and Miami in March, she added.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Osaka \u2014 a former No. 1-ranked player who owns a total of four Grand Slam titles \u2014 was visited by a trainer during the changeover while she led 6-5. The trainer examined Osaka\u2019s abdominal area and gave her a pill to take, and play resumed.<\/p>\n

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Osaka receives medical attention from a trainer during an injury timeout inside John Cain Arena. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Osaka<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Osaka and Belinda Bencic embrace after the two-time Australian Open champion retired from their match. AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just before the tiebreaker began, Osaka went over to her\u00a0courtside coaches\u2019 box\u00a0and chatted briefly with Patrick Mouratoglou.<\/p>\n

After Bencic claimed that set in a tiebreaker by a 7-6 (3) score, taking four of the last five points via unforced errors by Osaka, the chair umpire announced that the match was over after 57 minutes, \u201cdue to injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two players hugged on the sideline, and Osaka left the court. She won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and the US Open in 2018 and 2020.<\/p>\n

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\"Osaka<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Osaka reacts as she is forced to retire from her match because of her injury. AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHopefully she\u2019ll be fine soon and be able to play the rest of the season,\u201d said Bencic, who won a singles gold medal for Switzerland at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.<\/p>\n

Bencic, who is also a mother, drew a heart on the lens of a courtside TV camera and wrote: \u201cGet well soon Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next for Bencic will be a fourth-round matchup against 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff or 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez, who were scheduled to face each other on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll watch a bit, if I can,\u201d Bencic said, \u201cbut I think I\u2019ll do my cooldown and try to focus on my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Osaka<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Osaka speaks during her press conference after she retired from her third round match. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bencic, who returned to action last October after having her first baby, has never been past the fourth round in 11 past appearances at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

She lost at that stage a year ago to two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-time\u00a0Australian Open\u00a0champion\u00a0Naomi Osaka\u00a0stopped playing because of a strained abdominal muscle after dropping the opening set of her third-round match against Belinda Bencic on Friday. \u201cI kind of have a history of it, since I was a teenager. At least once a year, I\u2019d get an ab strain. For me, I want to say it\u2019s more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":827253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1631,41616],"tags":[10782,10783],"class_list":{"0":"post-827252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-naomi","8":"category-osaka","9":"tag-naomi","10":"tag-osaka"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}