Two-time champion Naomi Osaka has formally withdrawn from the Australian Open, including to the rising record of famous person casualties.
Osaka hasn’t performed since September and was lengthy odds to make her comeback at Melbourne Park after posting photos on social media solely final week of her jaunt by means of Europe together with her US rapper boyfriend, Cordae.
“Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open. We will miss her at #AO2023,” Open officers tweeted on Sunday.
Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska has been promoted to the principle attract Osak a’s absence.
Champion at Melbourne Park in 2019 and 2021, Osaka took within the Mona Lisa, live shows and solely seemingly returned to her Los Angeles base final week and has proven no signal of any Open preparation .
The 25-year-old’s Melbourne no present will solely additional heighten considerations the four-time grand slam champion might not return to the tennis court docket in any respect.
Osaka took a psychological well being break after sitting out the 2021 French Open and later revealed she’d been battling despair and anxiousness for a number of years.
Down to forty seventh within the reside WTA rankings, the Japanese super-talent hasn’t performed since withdrawing from the second spherical in Tokyo final September with belly pains and has received just one accomplished match since final May.
The former world No.1 crashed out within the first spherical of her earlier three occasions, together with the US Open, which she has additionally received twice.
Osaka’s final victory was an abbreviated one to say the least, coming after only one sport towards Daria Saville when the Australian suffered a torn ACL in Tokyo.
Her scratching is one other blow to Open organisers already reeling from the retirements final 12 months of reigning ladies’s champion Ash Barty and legends Serena Williams and Roger Federer.
Men’s world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz pulled out on Saturday with a hamstring harm earlier than Serena’s seven-times grand slam-winning sister Venus handed again her wildcard after being damage whereas practising in Auckland.
Former Melbourne Park finalist and ex-long-time No.1 Simona Halep is not competing this 12 months both.
Osaka’s withdrawal would ordinarily have been a lift for Australian No.1 Ajla Tomljanovic, who wants two higher-ranked rivals to drop out earlier than subsequent Thursday’s draw to realize an all-important Open seeding.
But Osaka’s fall from grace has been so spectacular that the previous world No.1 is behind Tomljanovic within the standings and battling to stay inside the highest 50.
A primary-time grand slam seeding would guarantee Tomljanovic – a Wimbledon and US Open quarter-finalist – does not strike a higher-ranked opponent till at the very least the third spherical.
World No.22 Nick Kyrgios and the Twenty fourth-ranked Alex de Minaur are presently the one two Australians slated to be seeded for the season’s first slam.
