Former world number 1 Naomi Osaka becomes latest star player to pull out of Australian Open 2023

The former world number one Naomi Osaka is the latest name to pull out of the upcoming Australian Open (AO) 2023, that begins on January 16th. Osaka’s participation at the event was always under the dark cloud with the Japanese star not competing in any of the events in the lead-up to the first Slam of this year. Putting all those speculations to rest, on Sunday, January 8th, Australian Open in a tweet informed everyone about this news without mentioning any specific reason.

Other than Osaka, the 2022 US Open winner, Carlos Alcaraz alongside veteran Venus Williams also withdrew their names from this event owing to injuries. Former world number one Simona Halep will also be missing the Australian Open this year following her pending drug suspension investigation.

Having won the Australian Open twice in the past – in 2019 and 2021, the 24-year-old Osaka will be missing this Hardcourt Major Down Under for the first time since making her debut here in 2016.

Not only this, Osaka has now missed two of the last three Grand Slams including the Wimbledon last year due to an Achilles injury. Meanwhile, at the French Open last year, she got out in the first round losing to Amanda Anisimova in straight sets. A few months later at the last Slam of the year – the US Open, Naomi suffered the same fate losing to Danielle Collins 7-6, 6-3 in the opener.

The four-time Grand Slam winner hasn’t actually played a competitive match since pulling out of a tournament in September 2022 citing abdominal pain. Besides, she also remained out of top 10 in 2022, where she even admitted to be suffering from mental health.

Currently ranked 42nd in the WTA Rankings, Osaka while speaking at the Pan Pacific Open in September last year, claimed that she had gone through “more down than up” in 2022.