Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka: Four-time Grand Slam champion announces pregnancy

The Japanese former world number one, 25, withdrew from the Australian Open earlier this week, having not played since September.

"2023 will be a year that'll be full for lessons for me," said Osaka, adding that she hopes to return in 2024.

"One thing I am looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone 'that's my mom'."

Osaka won the last of her four Grand Slams at the Australian Open in 2021.

However, she has spoken of the problems she has faced since that memorable title win.

Osaka beaten in first round again

It was only her third tournament back from an Achilles injury and it has been a stuttering return to action for the twice U.S. Open champion, who also exited in the opening round in Toronto last week, retiring with lower back pain.

For Zhang, doubles champion in Cincinnati last year, it was her first singles win at the event since 2014.

"Naomi she is amazing but I don't know she is maybe not really feeling good today," said Zhang. "But for sure today - not her best today."

World number one drops out of Wimbledon

Japan's Osaka suffered the injury in Madrid, forcing her to miss the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome in the leadup to the French Open where she lost in the first round.

Last week she posted a video on social media, saying: "Here's me running on a underwater treadmill because my Achilles is being stubborn still (sic) I must be aging or something."

Osaka had said after her defeat at Roland Garros that she was not 100 percent sure if she would play on grass this season.

Osaka in tears

After being broken in the first game, a fan shouted "Naomi, you suck" and Osaka could later be seen wiping away tears.

After the match, the event's 2018 champion addressed the crowd on center court, saying the incident reminded her of when Venus and Serena Williams were booed at the tournament in 2001.

"I've been heckled before and it didn't really bother me," Osaka said while holding back tears.

Australian Open: Naomi Osaka out to Amanda Anisimova

Japan's Osaka, 24, was beaten 4-6 6-3 7-6 (10-5) at Melbourne Park.

Unseeded Anisimova, 20, will play Australian top seed Ashleigh Barty in the last 16.

Barty has still not dropped a set this week after a 6-2 6-3 victory over Italy's Camila Giorgi.

The 25-year-old Queenslander is carrying the hopes of a nation desperate to see a home Australian Open champion for the first time since Chris O'Neil in 1978.

Most expected Barty to face Osaka in the last 16 when the draw pitted two of the game's biggest stars in the same section.

Former world number one drops out of top 10 in rankings

The Japanese player, who is now 12th, withdrew from this year's French Open and missed Wimbledon to focus on her mental health.

Osaka, 23, also took a break from tennis in September after her defence of the US Open title was ended by Leylah Fernandez in the third round.

Great Britain's Emma Raducanu, who beat Fernandez in the final, is ranked 22nd.

Raducanu, 18, is set to play in her first event since winning the US Open at the Indian Wells tournament, having been given a wildcard into the main draw.

Indian Wells starts on Monday and runs until 17 October.

Osaka headlines day one at US Open

While the year's final Grand Slam has been stripped of some of the marquee names, with Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams injured, it is still shaping up as an absorbing event in Flushing Meadows as Novak Djokovic bids to complete the calendar-year slam.

Already the winner of the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, the Serb needs a New York triumph to become the third man, and first since Rod Laver in 1969, to accomplish the feat.

The history hunting Djokovic opens his account on Wednesday with a first round match against Danish qualifier Holger Rune.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka brought to tears during press conference

 

Osaka has lately had a strained relationship with sections of the media, saying her mental health is adversely impacted by certain lines of questioning.

Hence on Tuesday, when a local Cincinnati reporter at the Western and Southern Open suggested that Osaka benefits from her huge media profile but does not like speaking to reporters, the world number two teared up as she tried to formulate an answer.

"When you say I'm not crazy about dealing with you guys, what does that refer to?" asked Osaka, who is of Japanese-Haitian heritage.

Naomi Osaka will leave Tokyo Olympics without a medal, loses in 3rd round to Marketa Vondrousova

Vondrousova, a 2019 French Open finalist, advances with the 6-1, 6-4 win.

"How disappointed am I? I mean, I'm disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others," Osaka said.

Osaka -- who had 32 unforced errors in the match -- isn't the first big name to lose early in the women's draw. World No. 1 and Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty of Australia lost in the opening round to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus also made an early exit, losing to Croatia's Donna Vekic in the second round.

Tokyo Olympics: Naomi Osaka & Novak Djokovic reach third round

Second seed Osaka, the favourite for the gold medal following world number one Ashleigh Barty's first-round exit, beat the Swiss 6-3 6-2.

Osaka will face Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-1 6-2, for a quarter-final spot.

World number one Novak Djokovic beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-3.

Djokovic is bidding for a first Olympic gold medal after winning bronze in Beijing 2008.