The Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, two-time winner of the Australian Open, has canceled on Sunday her participation in the Oceanic Grand Slam, the first of the season, a week before its start.
The organizers did not explain the reason for the withdrawal of the Japanese. The winner in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021 has not competed in any WTA tournament since she withdrew from a tournament in Tokyo last September due to stomach pains.
The 25-year-old tennis player has so far won a total of four ‘Grand Slam’ titles. Last year she missed Wimbledon due to an Achilles tendon injury, and at Roland Garros and the US Open she was eliminated in the first round.
At Roland Garros 2021 she withdrew before her second round match after confessing to prolonged periods of depression, and then took a break until the Olympics in her home country. She has dropped to 42nd in the WTA rankings.
On Saturday, 42-year-old American Venus Williams, a four-time Australian Open winner, confirmed her withdrawal from the tournament due to an unspecified injury. In the men’s singles, world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain is out with a muscle injury.
SOURCE: (dpa/EP)
