Naomi Osaka Withdraws from Australian Open After Injury, Inglis Reaches Fourth Round

“I was so excited to keep going, and this run meant the most to me, so having to stop here breaks my heart, but I can’t risk doing any further damage so I can get back on the court,” Osaka posted.

“Thanks for all the love and support… I’m so grateful everyone embraced me so much. And thank you to my whole team for always having my back, and the tournament organisers for being so kind.”

Osaka later added she’d hoped to play through the problem. She felt pain during her win over Cirstea. She briefly went to the locker room after losing the second set. Then, she took a medical timeout while 2-1 up in the final set.

“I thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match [on Saturday], I would be able to handle it, but I warmed up, and it got a lot worse,” she said.

“I definitely have to do more tests, and obviously, I think coming back from pregnancy [she returned two years ago], my body changed quite a lot, so this is somthing I have to be realy cautious of. I just have to talk with a couple of doctors.”

“It was nice that everyone enjoyed my outfit, but also, I enjoyed playing the tennis here.I played two three-set matches, and I felt really physically healthy [outside] my ab…”