Naomi Osaka will not play in the French Open
Less than a week after she won the US Open, three-time major champion Naomi Osaka of Japan announced on social media that she will not play in the French Open in Paris.
“Unfortunately I won’t be able to play the French Open this year,” Osaka said in posts on Twitter and Instagram on Thursday. “My hamstring is still sore so I won’t have enough time to prepare for the clay — these 2 tournaments came too close to each other for me this time.”
Osaka, 22, had her left hamstring wrapped throughout the US Open. She previously told reporters she suffered the injury during the Western & Southern Open, which was held a week before the start of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
Osaka withdrew from the Western & Southern Open final, citing the hamstring injury, giving Victoria Azarenka the win via a walkover. Osaka rallied to defeat Azarenka 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the US Open final on Saturday.
With the win, Osaka, a former world No. 1, moved up six spots to No. 3 in the WTA rankings.
All six of Osaka’s career singles titles have been on hard courts, including her US Open win during the weekend. She also won the US Open in 2018 and the Australian Open in 2019.
Besides Osaka’s absence, the women’s singles draw will be missing the current world No. 1 and the reigning French Open champion. Ashleigh Barty of Australia previously had announced she would not be traveling to Europe to defend her title, citing the Covid-19 pandemic as well as factoring in her lack of preparedness to play at Roland Garros.
The opening round of the French Open begins September 27, but the French Tennis Federation has limited the number fans able to attend to just 5,000 per day due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country.
