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Tag: Naomi Osaka

  • Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Wimbledon With ‘Achilles’ Injury

    Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Wimbledon With ‘Achilles’ Injury

    Former world number one Naomi Osaka pulled out of Wimbledon on Saturday with an Achilles injury.

    “My Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time,” the four-time Grand Slam winner posted on Twitter.

    Osaka, 24, was already considering not playing over the ATP and WTA tours decision to strip Wimbledon of ranking points after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

    Osaka’s tweet, although not mentioning Wimbledon specifically, was accompanied by a photo of herself on a grass court, and an emoji of a blade of grass.

    The Japanese player first suffered the Achilles problem in her opening match in Madrid in May, the injury forcing her to pull out of the following Italian Open.

    This month she posted a video of a training exercise on social media accompanied by the caption; “Here’s me running on a underwater treadmill because my Achilles is being stubborn still I must be aging or something.”

    Osaka’s name had appeared on the singles entry list for Wimbledon when it was released last week, but she has not featured in any of the grass-court warm-up events.

    Osaka, who has never got beyond the third round at the All England Club, raised the possibility of missing the grass court Grand Slam after her first round loss at last month’s French Open.

    “I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances. I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up,” she said.

    “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition,” she continued.

    “The intention of this measure was good, but the execution is all over the place.”

    Osaka’s withdrawal follows that of former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard who pulled out of the season’s third Grand Slam on Friday.

    The Canadian said the lack of world rankings points didn’t fit with her plans to manage her return from injury.

    Both players’ names were absent from an updated players’ list.

    Osaka made it to the third round twice, in 2017 and 2018, with her last appearance at the tournament in 2019.

  • Osaka Crashes Out Of Olympics As Bermuda Celebrate Historic Gold

    Osaka Crashes Out Of Olympics As Bermuda Celebrate Historic Gold

    Japanese star Naomi Osaka crashed out of the Olympics tennis competition on Tuesday after Flora Duffy delivered gold for  Bermuda for the first time in the tiny island’s history.

    Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron in last week’s opening ceremony, produced an error-strewn performance in losing 6-1, 6-4 to Marketa Vondrousova, ending her cherished dream of winning on home soil.

    The 23-year-old — one of the faces of the Tokyo Games — had not played since May, when she walked out of the French Open saying media commitments were harming her mental health.

    The second seed, who was broken five times in the match, will be bitterly disappointed at missing out on a chance of Olympic gold, especially as world number one Ashleigh Barty lost in the first round.

    Triathlete Duffy won the first gold of the day in the women’s event, making Bermuda the smallest territory or nation in terms of population to win a gold medal at a Summer Games.

    The 33-year-old timed 1hr 55min 36sec to come home more than a minute ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, with American Katie Zaferes taking the bronze.

    For Duffy it was a welcome reward after persistent injuries and a diagnosis of anaemia in 2013.

    “I have achieved my dream of winning a gold medal, but also winning Bermuda’s first gold medal,” she said.

    “It’s bigger than me and that’s a really cool moment. That was the longest kilometre of my life (the final one of the run).”

    – Pool duel –
    Elsewhere, swimming powerhouses Australia and the United States won one gold medal each in the morning pool session and are on three golds apiece.

    Australian world-record holder Kaylee McKeown upstaged American arch-rival Regan Smith to claim the women’s 100m Olympic backstroke crown as Russia and Britain also won golds.

    McKeown, who shattered Smith’s world record last month, flew through the water at the Tokyo Aquatic Center to touch in 57.47 seconds, a new Olympic record and only fractionally outside her own world best.

    Smith had to settle for third behind Rio Olympic bronze medallist Kylie Masse of Canada.

    McKeown, who lost her father last year to brain cancer, said: “It’s not necessarily what I’ve been through. Everyone has a journey of their own and it just so happens that mine’s been a really tough one.”

    On a day of upsets, American women’s 100m breaststroke world-record holder and defending champion Lilly King was beaten, and teammate and 100m backstroke champion Ryan Murphy also tasted defeat.

    King was stunned by 17-year-old compatriot Lydia Jacoby, who swam a scintillating final 50m to touch in 1:04.95 and edge her into bronze, with South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker taking silver.

    Russian swimmers Evgeny Rylov and Kliment Kolesnikov took gold and silver in the 100m backstroke, pushing Murphy into third place.

    Britain’s Tom Dean came back from two bouts of coronavirus to edge out team-mate Duncan Scott and win the 200m freestyle.

    “I contracted Covid twice in the last 12 months,” he said. “It’s unheard of. When I was sitting in my flat in isolation, an Olympic gold seem a million miles off, but here we are.”

    – Biles pressure –
    Later, all eyes will be on US gymnastics star Simone Biles in the women’s team final as the 24-year-old four-time Olympic champion seeks to erase the memory of an uncharacteristically error-strewn qualifying competition.

    Biles made mistakes on floor and vault  on Sunday and the other Americans followed suit as they failed to post the top score of the day for the first time at a world championships or Olympics since 2010.

    The US women came to Tokyo as firm favourites but Biles admitted to feeling the pressure in an Instagram post on Monday, saying “I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times.”

    With spectators banned from the gymnastics and most events at the Games to protect the Japanese public from coronavirus, Biles does not have a crowd to inspire her.

    But it would be a huge shock if she failed to win a fifth gold to kick off her attempt to equal or surpass Soviet great Larisa Latynina’s record of nine gymnastics titles.

  • Naomi Osaka Defeats Brady To Win Australian Open

    Naomi Osaka Defeats Brady To Win Australian Open

    Japan’s Naomi Osaka dismissed Jennifer Brady in straight sets to win the Australian Open and underline her growing hold on women’s tennis on Saturday.

    Osaka edged a tight first set but controlled the second to win 6-4, 6-3 in 77 minutes in front of 7,381 fans at Rod Laver Arena.

    Third seed Osaka preserves her 100 percent record in Grand Slam finals after winning the 2018 and 2020 US Opens and the 2019 title in Melbourne.

    The reigning US Open champion, who beat her idol, Serena Williams, in the Melbourne semi-finals, has now won two of the last three Grand Slams as her status and reputation soars.

    “We played in the semis of the US Open a couple of months ago and I told everyone that you’re going to be a problem,” Osaka told Brady at the trophy presentation.

    “And I was right. It’s really incredible to me to see your growth over the past few months, it’s really cool for me to see.”

    Osaka, 23, is only the third player after Monica Seles and Roger Federer to win their first four major finals, and will now rise to second in the world rankings.

    She saved two match points in the fourth round against Garbine Muguruza and swept past Williams in straight sets in the semis.

    On Saturday, Osaka wore down fellow big-hitter Brady, and then lifted her racquet above her head in celebration of her win as the crowd roared.

    After sealing back-to-back Slam titles twice, Osaka has won half the majors she’s contested since beating Williams to win her first in 2018.

    “Thank you for coming and watching, it feels really incredible for me,” she told the crowd, which was capped at half-capacity over coronavirus concerns.

    “I didn’t play my last Grand Slam with fans so just to have this energy really means a lot.”

    US Open rematch

    The Japanese survived a seesaw start to gain control, reeling off six straight games en route to the title.

    It was a rematch of last year’s epic US Open semi-final, described by some as the best match of 2020, but Osaka triumphed far more comfortably on this occasion.

    Before the match, Osaka had pinpointed her return as the key, but she was helped out by a shaky Brady who lost her serve in the fourth game after two double faults.

    But Brady, the 22nd seed, hit back with a break and she continued to pile pressure on Osaka’s serve.

    A brilliant lob winner, showcasing her trademark athleticism, gave a pumped-up Brady a break point in the ninth game, but Osaka held on.

    Brady then played a sloppy game on serve to hand over the set to Osaka, who had a 20-0 record at Melbourne Park when winning the first set.

    Osaka gained a stranglehold with an early break in the second set and fired down an ace to skip out to a 3-0 lead, followed by a roar of “C’mon!”.

    Brady attempted a late rally, but a calm Osaka was not to be denied.

    Brady’s resilient run ended after serving 14 days’ hard quarantine before the tournament, unlike other players who were allowed out of their hotel rooms to train.

    Despite the defeat, Brady will rise to a career-high 13th in the WTA rankings.

  • ‘I’m done’ – Serena Williams leave pressroom in tears after semi-final loss to Naomi Osaka

    ‘I’m done’ – Serena Williams leave pressroom in tears after semi-final loss to Naomi Osaka

    Tennis star, Serena Williams couldn’t hold back tears as she was questioned by journalists following her loss to Naomi Osaka at the 2021 Australian Open early Thursday morning, February 18.


    Osaka dominated her role model and will now play Jennifer Brady or Karolina Muchova in the final on Saturday night.


    An emotional farewell from Williams, sparked questions after she waved to the Rod Laver Arena crowd and put her hand on her heart.

    Asked if it was goodbye to the Australian Open, a tournament she has won seven times, the 39-year-old said;


    “Um, I don’t know. The Aussie crowd is so amazing, it was nice to see,” Williams said, keeping a smile for the time being.


    “I don’t know. If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone, so…”

    But the press conference quickly changed tone when a reporter then asked about her performance against Osaka.


    “The unforced errors through the match, considering how well you played to get to this stage, what do you feel caused that? Was it just one of those bad days at the office?” he asked.


    Williams could barely respond before her voice broke and she began crying, leaving the room and ending her press conference early.

    “I don’t know. I’m done,” she said, getting out of her seat as she finished speaking.


    Williams, turning 40 in September, is a win shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam titles since capturing her 23rd at the 2017 Australian Open.


    Since her last win, Serena has reached four grand slam finals – twice at Wimbledon and twice at the US Open – without a win.

  • Naomi Osaka wins 2nd US Open women’s title after defeating Victoria Azarenka

    Naomi Osaka has won her second U.S. Open title at this year’s tournament after beating Victoria Azarenka. 

    The 22-year-old Japanese tennis star battled back from a set down against her Belarusian opponent ,31, to lift her second US Open title in three years with a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory at Flushing Meadows. 

    “I just thought it would be very embarrassing to lose this in under an hour,” Osaka said, explaining that she told herself to “stop having a really bad attitude.”

    “I always see everyone sort of collapse after match point, but I always think you may injure yourself, so I wanted to do it safely,” she explained.

    Naomi Osaka wins 2nd US Open women

    Naomi, who is already the highest-earning female athlete in the world, adds another £2.3million in prize money to her fortune as she becomes the first Asian player to win three major titles, surpassing Chinese trailblazer Li Na. She won the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Australian Open.

    Azarenka who defeated Serena William to set up the US Open final showdown with Naomi Osaka, said: “It’s not easy times in the world right now. So I’m very grateful for the opportunity to play in front of millions of people watching on TV, unfortunately not here.”