‘It breaks my heart’ – two-time champion Osaka withdraws through injury

Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from her Australian Open third-round match shortly before she was due to take the court against home qualifier Maddison Inglis.

Japan’s Osaka, 28, has cited a left abdominal injury – which she has a history of problems with – for pulling out.

The announcement came about two hours before the pair were expected to take to Rod Laver Arena in Saturday’s night session.

Osaka, who was seeded 16th, made the decision after warming up at Melbourne Park earlier.

“I thought I could push through it,” said Osaka, who won the Melbourne title in 2019 and 2021.

“I played my last match with some pain and thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match, I would be able to handle it.”

Four-time major champion Osaka, who also claimed US Open titles in 2018 and 2020, needed a medical timeout during Thursday’s win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.

Afterwards, she admitted it was a “reoccurring thing” and suggested her injury history would allow reporters to guess what the issue was.

Osaka retired injured during last year’s Australian Open with the same issue.

The mother-of-one returned to the sport in 2024 after giving birth and says she plans to speak to doctors about the issue.

“I definitely have to do more tests. Coming back from pregnancy, my body changed quite a lot. This is something I have to be really cautious of,” Osaka said.

Losing a player of Osaka’s quality – and star power – is always a blow to the draw.

She has drawn attention to the sport for choosing to wear a jellyfish-inspired outfit on her way to court for her opening-round win over Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic.

There was also debate about Osaka’s behaviour after she apologised for disrespecting Cirstea in their second-round meeting.

“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,” she added.

Inglis, 28, is ranked 168th in the world and moves into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

Having been overlooked by Tennis Australia for a wildcard, she came through three qualifying rounds and will now face Polish second seed Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter-finals.

Although her next opponent is ranked 166 places below her, Swiatek will need to show significant improvements after producing another error-strewn performance to beat 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-1 1-6 6-1.

The six-time Grand Slam champion cruised through the first set in 24 minutes, converting two of her three break points, but failed to hold serve in an equally one-sided second set. Her first-serve percentage dropped to 44% and she won just one point behind her first serve.

Although she recovered strongly, winning five consecutive games, the errors continued to flow, including back-to-back double faults, and she had to save three break points while serving for the match.

Her tally of 24 winners was outstripped by 29 unforced errors, having already amassed a combined 62 unforced errors in her previous two matches.

“It’s not surprising for me because I know Anna can play amazing tennis,” Swiatek said.

“I didn’t feel like I was playing worse in the second set. I feel like she played ‘in’ all of the balls that went out in the first.”

After paying tribute to Osaka in her on-court interview, Swiatek went on to ask the Australian crowd to continue to cheer for her as she tries to eliminate one of their own.

“Hopefully Naomi is well. She was playing great, I saw from the scores,” Swiatek added.

“It’s exciting to be in the fourth round again. Guys, hopefully you’re not going to be harsh on my playing an Australian. [There’s] a lot of Polish flags here, so please make it even.”