Aus Open: Naomi Osaka confident of playing first-round match despite injury

Melbourne (The Uttam Hindu): Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka is confident of playing the first-round match in the season opener Grand Slam despite the scan result of an abdominal injury not being "fantastic." The four-time Grand Slam champion reached the final of the ASB Classic in preparation for the first major of the season, but had to retire and undergo an MRI scan. While she didn't provide specifics about the scan results on Friday, Osaka expressed that she is ready for her first-round match against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia. "I’m normally a really honest person but I probably won’t answer your question honestly,” Osaka told reporters on Friday. "The MRI, it wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t bad at the same time. I’m pretty optimistic about playing my match, I mean for sure I’m going to play my match, and I’ve been practising pretty well for the two days that I’ve been here."

The 27-year-old has taken confidence from her performance in the WTA event in Auckland and has moved on mentally from the immediate devastation she felt upon retiring from the final there. “It just sucked because I felt like my body wasn’t keeping up with what my mind wanted it to do, and obviously I was very concerned about my chances playing here, so I felt like the best decision was to pull out, even though I really didn’t want to,” Osaka said.

That feeling was exacerbated by her campaign last year, spent largely rebuilding following a long stint of maternity leave. “At that moment it was an accumulation of losing in first rounds in 2024 and wanting and hoping to get to a final, and then obviously when I did, I couldn’t play anymore,” she said. “I’m strangely over it now. Like, 30 minutes after that happened, I was over it because I felt like I’m playing really well, and I can only keep continuing, and hopefully I’ll get to another final.” Osaka split with long-time coach Wim Fissette in September and reunited with Patrick Mouratoglou.