Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Australian Open Ahead of Third Round Due to Injury

Naomi Osaka will need to wait another year to potentially add a third Aussie Open title to her trophy case.

Naomi Osaka plays a shot against Sorana Cirstea at the Australian Open. | Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka saw her run at the Australian Open cut short over the weekend after she was forced to withdraw from her scheduled third-round match against Australia’s Maddison Inglis due to an abdominal injury.

“It’s an injury I've had a couple of times before, and I thought I could push through it,” Osaka said. “I played my last match with some pain, and I thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match today, I would be able to handle it. But I warmed up, and it got a lot worse.”

“Obviously I think coming back from pregnancy, my body changed quite a lot,” she said. “So this is something I have to be really cautious of.”

Osaka, currently ranked No. 17 in the world, took a 15-month break from tennis and gave birth to her first child, Shai, in July of 2023. Osaka returned to the court in 2024 and last year took step towards a return to the top of the sport, reaching as far as the semifinals of the U.S. Open—her deepest run at a slam since her break.

“I’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw to address something my body needs attention for after my last match,” Osaka said in an Instagram post announcing her decision. “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.”

Before withdrawing, Osaka had already made some impressive headlines at the Australian Open, both with her bold fashion choices and her tense postgame handshake with Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

With four months to go until the next grand slam at Roland Garros, hopefully Osaka will have time to get back at full strength before pushing for her next title.

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