Naomi Osaka shed some light on a retirement that left many stunned as the Japanese revealed that her back got "locked up" during a pre-match practice but she didn't want to simply pull out of the Coco Gauff match.
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On Tuesday, the former world No. 1 got off to a great start to her round-of-16 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, winning the opener 6-3. After she also broke the No. 4 seed in the seventh game of the second set to go up by a set and a break, the 26-year-old appeared to be destined for her biggest win since making a post-pregnancy comeback.
But then out of the blue, Osaka started blasting unforced errors - and after basically not showing up in the next three games and Gauff winning the second set 6-4 - the Asian home favorite retired from the match. The retirement even surprised her American opponent, who instantly approached her to ask what was wrong.
"Hi everyone just wanted to say Im extremely thankful and happy to have played in Beijing. That being said I feel like I owe a little backstory about today- So I locked my back up during practice earlier and honestly wasnt sure if I could even play but I just wanted to try, unfortunately things just got progressively worse during the match. Totally worth it though lol," the 2019 Beijing champion wrote on Threads.
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Will this injury hamperOsaka's big plans for this part of the year?
After seeing off Lucia Bronzetti 6-3 6-2 in her first match at the China Open, the former world No. 1 admitted she was hoping to soon end her title drought and collect a trophy for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open. Then, she also made it past her next two matches and it was definitely starting to look like this might be a huge week for the 26-year-old.
Im glad that Im able to be able to play on this court again. And I hope to be able to lift a trophy again sometime soon," Osaka said after beating Bronzetti.
For the Japanese, this was her first appearance in China's capital since she won Beijing in 2019. And since she is basically at home wherever she plays in Asia because she has massive popularity there, the current world No. 73 highlighted that she would like to finish her year on a strong note and be a seed at the Australian Open.
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"I think for me the Asian swing is full of possibilities. I've always done really well at the end of the year. I always look forward to it. Especially with the two tournaments in Japan, for me it's kind of the time to dig deep and try to get really good results... My goal now, I think to be seeded in Australia. I would really love that. I would love to avoid Caroline Garcia (smiling). Yeah, just being seeded. But not putting too much pressure on myself. I'm just trying to take it day by day," Osaka said.
But now that she is dealing with a back injury, the question is will she be able to play the Wuhan Open next week - and if yes - will she be fully fit going forward.
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What Gauff said about Osaka's retirement?
After the match was over, the American tennis star admitted that she noticed something wasn't right when the Japanese was serving.
"I wasn't sure if it was her hip or back, I just knew that towards the end she could barely jump on her serve, so I knew that it was something that, in the moment, was probably bad but hopefully it's something that's not a long-term thing," Gauff said.
Moments after the match ended, the 20-year-old approached the 2019 champion and offered some kind words.
"Towards the end of the second set, I really saw it was hampering her movement a lot. Even if you saw that last point, I was just trying to keep the ball in because I knew what was going on. But I didn't expect her to retire at that moment, honestly. I just told her she should be proud of herself. It's not easy. I think this is her first time winning three matches in a tournament [for a while]. So physically, you can do all the running you want but match-fit is different. Hopefully, she'll be fine. I think she's signed up for Wuhan," the American said.
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Meanwhile, Gauff now owns a 3-2 head-to-head record against Osaka.
If the Japanese is able to play at the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, it will be her second appearance there and the first one since 2017.
Previously, Osaka suffered a first-round loss to Elise Mertens in her 2017 Wuhan debut.
