Naomi Osaka already withdraws from Japan Open in worrying injury news

Naomi Osaka seems to be having an unfortunate and premature end to her first full season back on the tour after becoming a mother. She has already withdrawn from the Japan Open in Osaka next week.

Of course a big deal for her and one she is unlikely to withdraw from without any certainty about her current injury status after she had to retire in Beijing last week.

She has only just started working with Patrick Mouratoglou and reached the Last 16 in Beijing facing off against Coco Gauff and holding her own winning the first set.

But after losing the second, she was forced off court after struggling with a lower back problem and won't play between October 14 - 20, 2024. Her last scheduled tournament as of right now is the Toray Pan Pacific Open. She is scheduled to play that from October 21-27 in a field also including Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng and Barbora Krejcikova.

But whether this is just to give herself another week off before she plays that is another matter. Not a good sign though for a player who has opted throughout her comeback for game time over time away from the court and especially with a new partnership, she will want to play as much as possible.

Especially on home soil where she last played in 2022 before she announced she was going to become a mum and now living in the US is a place she likely rarely visits nowadays.