"Not great, not bad": Naomi Osaka remains optimistic despite exit from Australian Open because of injury

Former world number one Naomi Osaka has revealed that she is trying to keep positivity despite being forced to retire from the third round of the Australian Open. The 27-year-old was forced to retire from the third-round clash of the first Grand Slam of the year against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

Osaka lost the first set with a score of 7-6 and was not fit enough to continue the contest as she decided to retire from the contest. The development is a major setback for the four-time Grand Slam winner, who was hoping for an improved outing in 2025 after struggling for the most part last season. She recently admitted that she will consider retiring from the sport if results do not improve in the near future.

Osaka, while talking to the media, admitted that it was disappointing to see her first Grand Slam journey ending the way it did but expressed optimism going forward. The former world number one, who was also forced to retire from a WTA event final because of a fitness concern, stated the reason for continuing to play despite feeling discomfort early on in the contest.

“Update on my injury, it’s not fantastic, and I’m feeling — I mean, not great, not bad. In the middle somewhere,” said Osaka. “I mean, it was a little hectic trying to manage it, because obviously my draw was quite tough. But we were also doing everything we could, like I was going to therapy every day and stuff like that into the night. So the days have been very long for me. Obviously after my last match it got way worse. So credit to her for being such a good opponent. But yeah, it was just, I guess, a little inevitable, but I think the competitor in me just wanted to see it through until the end.”