Naomi Osaka has sadly been forced to withdraw from next week's WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo due to her ongoing back injury, the tournament announced.
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After contracting a very unfortunate injury in Seoul, the four-time Grand Slam champion missed back-to-back WTA events in Beijing and Wuhan before also pulling out of this week's tournament in Osaka.
As if missing her hometown tournament wasn't hard enough, the former world No. 1 is now also won't be able to compete in the biggest WTA tournament in Japan - the Toray Pan Pacific Open - where she was hoping to make her first appearance as a mom this year.
For all parties involved - the Japanese tennis star, the Tokyo organizers and the fans - this is a very big blow.
On October 1st, the 27-year-old retired injured her Beijing round-of-16 match versus Coco Gauff. Later, it was revealed that she sustained a back issue during a pre-match warmup.
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Unfortunately, the Tokyo withdrawal news doesn't come as a surprise. Five days ago, Osaka held a Q&A session on Instagram. When asked about the chances of playing the WTA 500 tournament in Japan's capital, she didn't sound too optimistic.
"It was worse than what I thought I just have a high pain tolerance lol) and I'm trying my best to potentially play Tokyo but I'm still waiting to see what the doctor says," the two-time Tokyo runner-up replied.
When should we see Osaka back in action?
This week, it was announced that the former No. 1 signed up to play at the WTA 250 tournament in Hong Kong, which is slated to kick off the week after Tokyo.
If everything goes well and the additional week helps her recover, the Japanese will make her second appearance in Hong Kong. Previously, she was a quarterfinalist in her debut seven years ago.
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The WTA 250 tournament in Hong Kong is also set to feature Simona Halep and Emma Raducanu.
Hopefully, Osaka recovers and plays in Hong Kong, which starts on October 28th.
