Osaka to drop below 80 in rankings after Australian Open exit

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka is set to plummet below 80th in the rankings after her Australian Open title defence met an untimely end in the 3rd round.

The four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan is currently ranked 14th - already low by her standards - but is set to fall after her early demise in Melbourne. Osaka squandered two match points against the 60th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova who stunned her 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-5).

The 24-year-old Osaka said that she was "not quite worried" about her tumble down the rankings - the last time she was below 80 was in August 2016. She said:

"I think that it will go up to where it needs to go up to if I keep playing like this throughout the year. I'm just going to keep my head down and keep working hard. I think I'll get to where I need to get to."

Osaka was dismissive of reporters suggestions that lack of playing tennis was at fault for her loss to Anisimova although admitting:

"Wim said it probably did because I didn't play a person that served and returned really well (until facing Anisimova). So he said if I played people that returned as well as she did before maybe I would have been more prepared, but those are the choices that I made."

She also did not disclose her plans moving forward saying she will decide in time.