Following her withdrawal from the Western & Southern Open final, Naomi Osaka is expressing concerns over her fitness ahead of the 2020 US Open.
The world number nine pulled her left hamstring in the second-set tiebreak of her Friday’s “Cincinnati” semifinal against Elise Mertens and the injury wouldn’t go away overnight, so she had to skip Saturday’s final against Victoria Azarenka.
As Naomi Osaka kicks off her US Open campaign on Monday night against fellow Japanese Misaki Doi, it is uncertain whether she would have enough time to heal:
I just hope I’m giving myself the opportunity and the chance to have enough time [to recover].
The bio-secure bubble hosting both the Western & Southern Open and the US Open this year isn’t equipped with ice baths because of the coronavirus pandemic, so that’s something Osaka has been struggling with, as she normally takes them after matches.
Overall, the 2018 US Open champion Osaka is not super confident about her chances in New York, but she tries to think positively:
Honestly, I’m a bit stressed, but at the same time I feel like I have to keep forcing into my brain that I made the choice to come here, so I shouldn’t be stressed about it and I should just be happy to be playing in the first place. Of course I never want to lose in the first round, and I don’t even want to have that thought in my head, but I know that’s a possibility. So I’m just going to think about doing the best that I can.
