Naomi Osaka, the Japanese tennis star, referred to her annoying injury after a disappointing exit from the US Open. In her third match against Elise Mertens, she secured a victory while receiving treatment during a medical timeout, but in the next round, she lost ۶-۱, ۶-۴ to Rybakina.
Injury Challenges
Osaka spoke about her injury, saying: "In the last match I played, I felt a lot of pain in my foot. This morning, it got worse and I couldn't play well." She added: "I can't put pressure on it properly and I feel a bit of pain when landing. I tried to find ways to reduce the pain and thought that if I served a bit slower, it would put less pressure on my foot."
Rybakina, the current Australian Open champion, defeated Osaka in just ۶۶ minutes. Osaka hopes to manage this injury until the end of the season and said: "I had an ultrasound yesterday and now I've had another ultrasound, and I probably need to get an MRI as well because I really don't know what the problem is."
Productive Season and Future Expectations
Osaka, who returned to the tour more than two years ago after a long maternity leave, expressed satisfaction with her performance in this year's Grand Slam events. She was eliminated in the third round of the Australian Open, but reached the Round of ۱۶ at Roland Garros and had her best performance at Wimbledon, which included a victory over Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one.
She said about this: "I started the year with an injury and I don't know if this counts as ending the year with an injury or not, but I definitely learned a lot about myself and tennis. I hope to continue these successes and play more matches with these great players because I feel I need these experiences."
