CNN
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Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Australian Open, event organizers introduced on Sunday, with out elaborating on the rationale.
“Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We’ll miss her at #AO2023,” the Australian Open tweeted.
Former world No. 1 Osaka was not listed to play in warm-up tournaments in Adelaide or Hobart, elevating hypothesis about her participation within the first grand slam of the yr.
The 25-year-old took a while away from aggressive tennis and made a number of extremely publicized disclosures about her struggles with psychological well being following an incident in August 2021, the place she was visibly pressured and emotional whereas addressing the media throughout an compulsory information convention at Roland Garros.
Osaka subsequently pulled out of the French Open that yr and revealed she had “suffered lengthy bouts of despair” since profitable her first main championship in 2018.
Osaka’s most up-to-date season has been marred by damage and sickness: she withdrew from the Melbourne Summer time Set 1 event final January with an stomach damage and pulled out of Tokyo’s Pan Pacific Open in September because of sickness.
She additionally missed your complete grass courtroom season because of an Achilles damage and withdrew from her opening match of the Canadian Open with a again damage.
Osaka joins a listing of notable absentees from the Australian Open, which begins on January 16.
Males’s world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is out with a leg damage, he mentioned on Friday. The event would have been the 19-year-old’s first grand slam since profitable the 2022 US Open in September and changing into the youngest world No. 1 within the historical past of males’s tennis.
Wild card Venus Williams has additionally withdrawn from the ladies’s singles because of an damage, event organizers introduced on Twitter Saturday.
In the meantime, there are query marks over the health of Britain’s Emma Raducanu and ladies’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek after she withdrew from the Adelaide Worldwide 2 event on Saturday because of a proper shoulder damage.
Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska will transfer into the primary attract Osaka’s place, organizers mentioned.
