Naomi Osaka withdraws from Wimbledon citing Achilles injury

Naomi Osaka, the Japanese tennis star who continues to shine on one court, has announced that she will not be playing at Wimbledon later this month, she announced in a social media post on Saturday.

Osaka and her team indicated that the withdrawal was due to inflammation of her left Achilles tendon and that she would have played if she had been healthy.

after losing in The first round of the French Open Last month with her left ankle twisted, Osaka, the former top seed with four Grand Slam titles on hard court, said she was tempted not to play at Wimbledon because the men’s and women’s rounds were stripped of her Grand Slam tournament. From ranking points in response to Wimbledon ban On Russian and Belarusian players.

“I feel if I played Wimbledon without points, it would be like a show,” Osaka said in Paris. “I know it’s not right, right? But my brain feels this way. When I think something is like a show, I can’t be 100 percent involved in it.”

But it turns out Osaka wasn’t healthy enough to play in any grasscourt tournaments this month, even the ones that submitted rating points. She withdrew from this week’s WTA 500 event in Berlin, citing an Achilles tendon injury, and on June 9 posted a video of her Running on the underwater treadmill.

“Achilles is still stubborn,” she wrote in the post. “I must be getting old or something.”

Her social media posts on Saturday included photos and videos of her receiving acupuncture and ultrasound on her left Achilles tendon.

“Trying to find the positive in a negative situation so all the love,” she wrote. “But there go my grass dreams.”

“Achilles is one area of ​​tendinitis or tendon strain that you don’t want to mess with and play with,” said Nicholas De Nobile, an American orthopedic surgeon who does not treat Osaka. “There’s a risk of a rupture, and it’s a disaster.”

Osaka has won both Grand Slam hardcourt tournaments – the Australian and US Championships – twice but never made it past the third round at the French Open, which is played on clay, or the third round at Wimbledon, which is played on grass. She has yet to make a final in any tour event on clay or grass, and while her hardcourt singles record was an astonishing 133-56, her career singles record is 21-17 on clay and 11-9 on grass. She struggled with her movement and timing on surfaces other than hard court, which she trained primarily during her formative years in Florida.

Its powerful first serve, penetrating and relatively flat ground strokes, and the ability to counterstrike from low body positions would make it a success on the grass. Currently, however, her record does not reflect this potential.

Osaka I last played Wimbledon in 2019She lost in the first round in a year that saw her coaches change after climbing to number one in the standings, and did not take part in last year’s tournament during a break from tennis to Treating her mental health. It ranked 43rd this week, up from 85 earlier this season.

Where Reach the final From the Miami Open in April, where she lost to new top seed Iga Swiatek, Osaka won only one singles match and withdrew from the Italian Open, the Berlin Open, and Wimbledon.

She’s targeting a return to the Tour in the first week of August when the circuit returns to North America with solid court events in Washington DC and San Jose, California.

For now, Osaka will continue to rehab. She started her work on Saturday with “After the Storm Comes the Calm.”

She wrote, “That’s a saying I’m trying to perfect.” “I feel like life goes on dealing with cards and you’ll never get used to it, but it’s the way you adapt to uncomfortable situations that really says things about your personality.”