The two-time Australian Open champion announced it on social media without divulging her injury, posting on Instagram that she had to withdraw “to address something my body needs attention for after my last match.”
“I was so excited to keep going and this run meant the most to me, so having to stop here breaks my heart,” Osaka posted. “But I can’t risk doing any further damage.”
Osaka’s grand entrance to the tournament this week went viral, when she walked onto the court for her first-round match wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol – a design she said her clothing sponsor, Nike, let her create.
In the second round, Osaka fended off Sorana Cirstea in a tense 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win at Margaret Court Arena that ended acrimoniously.
The pair barely exchanged a handshake over the net, with Cirstea glancing in Osaka’s direction briefly and then turning her head away.
As they walked towards the umpire’s chair, Osaka asked, “What was that for?”
Cirstea responded directly to the two-time Australian Open winner, upset with Osaka’s efforts to pump herself up at stages during the match.
“Apparently a lot of ‘C’mons’ that she was angry about,” Osaka said, “but whatever. I think this was her last Australian Open so, OK, sorry she was mad about it.”
Her exit came as Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka bowed out of his final Australian Open on Saturday, the three-time Grand Slam winner losing 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4 6-4 to American Taylor Fritz and soaking up warm applause as a much-loved former champion.
The 40-year-old, who made his Grand Slam breakthrough in Melbourne by winning the 2014 title before adding trophies at the French Open and the US Open in subsequent years, had announced that 2026 would be his farewell season.
After battling past Laslo Djere in his opener and edging a five-set marathon against a much-younger Arthur Gea in the last round, Wawrinka mounted another valiant effort but ran out of gas against Fritz on John Cain Arena.
Wawrinka shrugged off losing a tight opening set tiebreak and cruised through the next, only to surrender the third set before taking a medical timeout, after which he struggled at times to keep up the pressure.
Ninth seed Fritz edged in front in the fourth set and there was no stopping the 28-year-old, who withstood a barrage of late backhand missiles from Wawrinka to book a clash with Italian Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the quarter-finals. (AP/Reuters)
