Naomi Osaka's difficult season continued after she retired from her first-round match at the Canadian Open, and she explained what caused the retirement afterward.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is adjusting to life without Wim Fissette, the coach with whom she won the 2020 US Open and 2021 Australian Open. Osaka split with the Belgian a few weeks ago.
Her first matches without Fissette were at the Silicon Valley Classic last week. She defeated Qinwen Zheng but lost to Coco Gauff, the French Open runner-up, in straight sets.
Osaka was undoubtedly hoping to build some momentum at the Canadian Open. Despite her lack of form this season, the Japanese star usually thrives at this time of the year, as demonstrated by her two US Open titles.
Unfortunately, Osaka's chances of finding form in Toronto were derailed by physical issues. Although the first set against Kaia Kanepti went to a tiebreak, the 24-year-old looked in physical discomfort from the match's early stages.
Osaka eventually retired at 6-7, 0-3 down. Afterward, she explained that her back had been troubling her from the start of the contest but also praised Kanepi for playing well until Osaka's retirement.
“I felt my back from the start of the match, and despite trying my best to push through it I just wasn’t able to today. I’d like to pay credit to Kaia for playing well and want to wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
The former world No. 1 later summarized her feelings briefly in a Twitter post, saying how the match ended meant it was not a good day.
"Today is just really not a good day..."
It is unclear how severe the injury is. Hopefully, retiring from the match meant Osaka avoided aggravating the problem further, and she will be fit for next week's Cincinnati Open.
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