Naomi Osaka Forced To Retire Again, Cuts Her Australian Open Run Short
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Naomi Osaka had to cut her 2025 Australian Open run short, as she was once again forced to retire from her match.
In recent months, Osaka was finally able to find her best tennis again. She reached the fourth round of the China Open in Beijing last year, even leading against the eventual champion, Coco Gauff, but she had to retire.
Then, to start this season, she led in the ASB Classic final but had to retire after winning the first set, and now, the Japanese player retired from her third consecutive tournament.
It was certainly a disappointing development for the two-time Australian Open champion, who was given a brutal draw in Melbourne. She first had to overcome Caroline Garcia, then she had to beat Karolina Muchova, and as if that was not enough, her third-round opponent was Belinda Bencic.
Maybe also because of her challenging first two matches, Osaka struggled in this match. She got off to a slow start. The former WTA World No. 1 player was broken immediately in the first game despite leading 40-15.
But she was able to break right back, even though Bencic, too, had a 40-15 lead in the second game. Osaka then added one more break of serve to lead already 3-1, and a few games later, at 5-2, it seemed like nothing could stop her from winning the first set of the match.
But Osaka started visibly struggling. Bencic broke back. After the Japanese player then miraculously held her serve, despite previously losing ten points in a row and being down 0-30, she requested to see a doctor at 6-5.
She didn't take the full medical timeout but instead received some pills, probably in the hope of overcoming the pain that she was feeling at that moment in her ab area, but it probably didn't help.
Bencic won her next service game to love, and in the tie-break, the Swiss player was better, winning the tie-break 7-3. After that, Osaka chose to retire from the match.
The Japanese player was aware of the fact that to win, she would need to win a three-set battle, and in her physical state, she was probably just not ready to commit to playing so much.
Bencic, on the other hand, had a lot of sympathy for her opponent. Both recently became moms, which is why the Swiss player dedicated a nice message to Osaka when signing the camera lens after the match, saying: "Get well soon, mama."
In her post-match interview, Bencic, who will now prepare for a match against the winner of the meeting between Coco Gauff and Leylah Fernandez, spoke about Osaka. She was disappointed about the Japanese player's retirement.
"At this moment I really feel for Naomi. I saw her struggling a bit at the end of the set. It’s not the way you’d like the match to end. It was a good match. Hopefully she’ll be fine soon and can play well for the rest of the season."
