The Australian Open is about to be robbed of any other main drawcard as officers scramble to decide the enjoying standing – and precise whereabouts – of two-time ladies’s champion Naomi Osaka.
Without a fit in 4 months, Osaka turns out all however sure to leave out the Melbourne main having most effective simply arrived again to her US base this week following a go back and forth via Europe together with her spouse Cordae.
In an Instagram publish titled “Europe”, the previous international No 1 used to be in France final week with Cordae, a rapper, posting a photograph sitting in combination in entrance of the Mona Lisa, whilst she additionally looked to be at a live performance.
Champion at Melbourne Park in 2019 and 2021, Osaka is it appears again in Los Angeles after being tagged in a photograph from a pilates studio in suburban LA however has proven no indicators of making ready for the Open.
Disgruntled lovers have additionally taken to social media to specific their dismay, a host replying to the publish and apparently blaming Osaka’s boyfriend for her no longer enjoying tennis.
While Osaka stays at the reputable Australian Open access record, the 25-year-old isn’t all the way down to play in Adelaide or Hobart subsequent week.
Officials seem quietly resigned to Osaka no longer competing at Melbourne Park from January 16-29 as considerations develop that the four-time grand slam champion would possibly not go back to the court docket in any respect.
Osaka took a psychological well being smash after sitting out the 2021 French Open and later published she have been suffering with melancholy and nervousness for a number of years.
Even if she did contest the Open, it is unattainable to consider Osaka critically difficult for a 3rd AO identify.
The Japanese superstar has no longer performed since taking flight from the second one spherical in Tokyo final September with stomach pains, and has received just one finished fit since final May.
She crashed out within the first spherical of her earlier 3 occasions, together with america Open – a match at which she has additionally two times received the identify.
Osaka’s final victory used to be an abbreviated one to mention the least, coming after only one sport in opposition to Daria Saville when the Australian suffered a torn ACL in Tokyo.
If and when Osaka withdraws from the season-opening slam, she’s going to sign up for a void of greats and previous international No 1s no longer enjoying the 2023 Australian Open.
Australian drought-breaker Ash Barty is not going to protect her ladies’s crown following her surprise retirement final March, whilst legends Serena Williams, a seven-time Open champion, and six-time males’s winner Roger Federer additionally surrender the sport final yr.
Nine-time males’s champion Novak Djokovic is again after lacking the 2022 version after having his Australian visa revoked for no longer being vaccinated in opposition to Covid-19.
The Open draw will happen subsequent Thursday, with Carlos Alcaraz the lads’s best seed forward of his Spanish compatriot and protecting champion Rafael Nadal. Polish international No 1 Iga Swiatek is the ladies’s best seed.