Coco Gauff offered some brutally honest thoughts following Naomi Osaka's shock Beijing retirement as the American admitted that she noticed something was wrong with the Japanese and didn't want to force too much but still didn't expect the match to end the way it did.
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In the Beijing round-of-16, tennis fans had a chance to see the two Grand Slam champions clash against each other for the first time in two years. And after the American miraculously recovered from a set and a break down to send the match into a third set, it looked like a big comeback was on the way.
But then, it all ended in an abrupt way after Osaka told the chair umpire that she was retiring due to an injury. The 26-year-old won the opening set with a 6-3 scoreline before losing the following 4-6.
"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 shared.
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After recovering from an early second-set break down, the Japanese broke the No. 4 seed in the seventh game to open a 4-3 lead and give herself a chance to serve her way into the China Open quarterfinal. But from that moment on, the 2019 Beijing champion's game basically shut down and the 20-year-old won the following three games to overturn the deficit and force a decider.
Moments after learning about Osaka's decision, the American went to the four-time Grand Slam champion's chair - and after learning it was a back issue - she kindly asked if she needed any help with her bags.
"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," Gauff explained.
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Osaka shared an update hours later
On the court, it was only confirmed that the former world No. 1 was retiring due to a physical issue but it wasn't specified which exactly. However, since it was evident to viewers that something was wrong with the Japanese's serving, it was instantly suspected that it was some kind of a back issue.
Later, that was confirmed by Osaka, who revealed that she sustained a back issue during practice but still decided to give a shot to the Gauff encounter.
"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 winner wrote on Threads.
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Gauff's nice gesture toward Osaka wasn't surprising
Over the last year, the two players have spoken very highly about each other multiple times. During last year's US Open, the Japanese came to watch the American and afterward said that she was inspired by watching her play.
When Osaka launched her post-pregnancy comeback, the 2023 US Open champion spoke very highly about her. In March, Gauff openly admitted she would like to play the 26-year-old in Miami - but it didn't ultimately happen since the former world No. 1 lost the match which would have booked a meeting with the American.
"I knew that she came to the match after the match. I actually didn't see her in the stands. Yeah, I think I expected to play her again when she came back on tour. Especially her not being seeded because her ranking dropped a little bit, you're going to get her eventually. I really thought I was going to play her in Indian Wells. I'm hoping to play her here. I think we have great matches against each other. She's definitely a champion of our sport. Regardless of her being gone, I still think she's one of the best hard court players. It will be a real test for me," Gauff said in March.
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In Beijing, the 20-year-old got her wish. While she ended on the winning side, it was definitely not the way that Gauff wanted to beat Osaka.
