By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday October 21, 2024
Naomi OsakaHis comeback season has come to an early end. The four-time Grand Slam champion announced that she will end her season early due to the back injury that forced her to withdraw from her match against Coco Gauff at the China Open in Beijing.
“I thought I strained my back, but I had an MRI in Beijing,” Osaka told reporters in Tokyo. Kyodo News Agency. “They said I blew a disc in my back and also tore my abdominal muscles. I was training in Los Angeles to play here. I got another MRI and it said I still have tears.
“I’ve played so many tournaments this year, so it was the hardest decision not to play this and not play in BJK.”
More: Naomi Osaka collaborates with Patrick Mouratoglou
“I am truly sorry that I have had to withdraw from the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open and the rest of this tennis season,” she wrote, according to a statement from the Hong Kong Tennis Open, where she withdrew.
Osaka finishes her first season as a mother at 22-17. She is currently ranked 56th – out of 831 at this year’s Australian Open, where she returned to the tournament after a 15-month hiatus and the birth of her child, daughter Shai, on July 4, 2023.
The HKCTA is disappointed to announce that Naomi Osaka has been forced to withdraw from the 2024 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open due to injury, in an unfortunate end to her 2024 tennis season.
However, Naomi has confirmed that she will continue to take part in… pic.twitter.com/twctM9BJVS
— Hong Kong Tennis Open (@HKTennisOpen) October 21, 2024
It has been a turbulent season for Osaka, who parted ways with coach Wim Fissette in September and hired Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, later in the month.
She injured her back in the first match she played with Mouratoglou in her box after winning three games in a row to reach the round of 16.
