Injuries to her lower back and abdominal muscles have sidelined Naomi Osaka for the remainder of the 2024 tennis season, as the Japanese star shifts her focus toward recovery and preparing for the 2025 tournaments in Australia.
The latest update reveals that Osaka will miss next month’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Spain, still battling a back injury sustained earlier this month at the China Open. The four-time Grand Slam champion last competed on October 1, when she was forced to retire midway through her fourth-round match against American Coco Gauff in Beijing.
Osaka had won the opening set 6-3 and led by a break in the second set, but Gauff rallied from 3-4 down to win the final three games of the set. With Osaka’s lower back injury worsening, she retired from the match, allowing Gauff to advance to the quarterfinals and eventually claim the tournament title.
This injury subsequently forced Osaka to miss the Japan Open and the Pan Pacific Open, and now she faces another setback as she pulls out of the team competition in Malaga, ending her 2024 season early.
“I thought I strained my back, but I did an MRI in Beijing,” Osaka told reporters in Tokyo, according to Kyodo News Agency. “They said I bulged a disc in my back and I also ruptured abdominal muscles. I was practicing in Los Angeles in order to play here. I took another MRI and it said I still have tears.”
Osaka pointed out it was the “toughest decision” to skip the Billie Jean King Cup Finals which will be held in Malaga, November 13-20. The former world No. 1 is now ranked 56th following her return from a maternity leave at the start of the 2024 season. (source: ESPN, photo: Jimmie48)
