Former world number one
Naomi Osaka has revealed that she is
trying to keep positivity despite being forced to retire from the third round of
the
Australian Open. The 27-year-old was forced to retire from the third-round
clash of the first Grand Slam of the year against Belinda Bencic of
Switzerland.
Osaka lost the first set with a score of 7-6 and was not fit
enough to continue the contest as she decided to retire from the contest. The development
is a major setback for the four-time Grand Slam winner, who was hoping for an
improved outing in 2025 after struggling for the most part last season. She
recently admitted that she will consider retiring from the sport if results
do not improve in the near future.
Osaka, while talking to the media, admitted that it was disappointing to see her first Grand Slam journey ending the way it did but expressed
optimism going forward. The former world number one, who was also forced to
retire from a WTA event final because of a fitness concern, stated the reason for continuing to play despite feeling discomfort early on in the contest.
“Update on my injury,
it’s not fantastic, and I’m feeling — I mean, not great, not bad. In the middle
somewhere,” said Osaka. “I mean, it was a little hectic trying to manage it,
because obviously my draw was quite tough. But we were also doing everything we
could, like I was going to therapy every day and stuff like that into the
night. So the days have been very long for me. Obviously after my last match it
got way worse. So credit to her for being such a good opponent. But yeah, it
was just, I guess, a little inevitable, but I think the competitor in me just
wanted to see it through until the end.”