Naomi Osaka walked off the court in tears at the Canadian Open yesterday after a back injury stopped her completing her first round match, just three weeks before the US Open begins.
The former world number one missed Wimbledon this year while recovering from an Achilles injury and was only in her second tournament back to fitness preparing for the US Open, with the first round in under three weeks time. Osaka was trailing Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 7-6, 3-0 in the Canadian Open first round match yesterday when her back pain was too much leaving the court in tears.
Afterwards Osaka, who had completed two matches in last week's Silicon Valley Classic, said that she was unable to play through the pain.
“I felt my back from the start of the match, and despite trying my best to push through it, I just wasn’t able to today,” Osaka said. “I’d like to pay credit to Kaia for playing well and want to wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
Osaka's troubled season began when she pulled out of the Italian Open in May, she briefly returned for a first round defeat in the French Open and was absent from World Tour tennis until last week's Silicon Valley Classic event in San Jose.
Osaka split from her Belgian coach Wim Fissette who had been by her side since 2019 during two of her grand slam successes.
The 24-year-old Japanese star, who won the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and Australian Open twice, was hoping to end her season on a high in the last major of the season. The US Open first round matches take place on August 29.
After her retirement from the Canadian Open, Osaka tweeted: “Today is just really not a good day,”
