Naomi Osaka – who has been battling to get back to full fitness after her shock first round French Open defeat to Amanda Anisimova last month – is the latest big-profile player to have withdrawn from Wimbledon. The four-time grand slam champion had cast doubt on her participation last month when she said: “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points it’ll be more like an exhibition.”
Naomi Osaka has pulled out of Wimbledon with an Achilles injury.
The four-time Grand Slam champion has been battling to get back to full fitness after her shock first round French Open defeat to Amanda Anisimova last month.
Speculation has been rife that Osaka would not be appearing at Wimbledon after she failed to take part in any of the grass court events despite appearing on the singles entry list for the championships.
Osaka tweeted a message on social media explaining that she was trying to ensure that she remembered that “after the storm comes the calm”.
She then added simply that “my Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time” in reference to the grass-court section of the calendar, including Wimbledon.
Last month, Osaka cast doubt on her participation at the grass-court Slam, saying: “I would love to go to get some experience on the grass court, but I’m the type of player who gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up.”
She supported her answer to another question in Japanese, saying: “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points it’ll be more like an exhibition.
“I know this isn’t true, but my brain just feels like that way and whenever I think of something like an exhibition I just can’t go at it 100 per cent.
“I didn’t even make my decision yet but I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances. That might change but I do want to get more experience on the grass and I know that the Berlin tournament is giving out points.”
Of course, Osaka – who has never gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon – was making reference to the fact there are no ranking points at this year’s summer Slam because of the tournament’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players.
