"Totally worth it though lol": Naomi Osaka reveals how her injury aggravate 'progressively' during China Open clash vs Coco Gauff

Japan’s tennis star Naomi Osaka has opened up about her injury during the China Open. The former world number one, who was once regarded as one of the best women’s tennis players in the singles category in the world, was forced to withdraw from the ongoing WTA 1000 event in the round of 16 against America’s Coco Gauff.

The result would have been disappointing, considering that she won the first set with a score of 6-3 but lost the second with a score of 6-4 and could not continue playing moving forward. After the match, Osaka, in a post on her official account on the social media platform Instagram, explained that she was struggling with fitness concerns before the start of the match but decided to go and play. However, her decision backfired, and her injury aggravated ‘progressively’, which pushed her to retire from the contest.

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"Hi everyone just wanted to say I’m extremely thankful and happy to have played in Beijing,” she wrote. “That being said I feel like I owe a little backstory about today- So I locked my back up during practice earlier and honestly wasn’t sure if I could even play but I just wanted to try, unfortunately things just got progressively worse during the match. Totally worth it though lol.”

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It was Osaka’s 17th defeat of the season in 37 matches, which does not make for a good reading. However, the former world number one will be happy to get some much-needed match practice under her belt after returning from to the court after a lengthy break because of pregnancy. On the other hand, Gauff will be extremely pleased with her performance, as it was her 44th win this year in 59 matches. She is now set to face Ukraine’s Yulia Starodubtsewa in the quarterfinal who booked her place after beating Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-0.