The four-time grand slam winner Naomi Osaka has pulled out of Wimbledon after failing to recover from an achilles injury. An update posted on Wimbledon’s official website on Saturday confirmed that the world No 43 had been added to the withdrawals list alongside Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who has a shoulder injury.
“My achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time,” she said later on Twitter. “I feel like life keeps dealing cards and you’re never gonna be used to them but it’s how you adapt to uncomfortable situations that really says stuff about your character. I’ve been repeating mantras a lot in my head recently.
“I don’t know if it’s to subconsciously help myself through stressful times or to ease my mind into realising that everything will work out fine as long as I put in the work. Cause what more can you do?”
Osaka, 24, recently posted a video of herself doing rehab on a water treadmill in which she said her achilles was “being stubborn still”. There were already doubts about whether she would compete at SW19 after she said playing the tournament without ranking points made it feel like an “exhibition”.
Osaka also pulled out of Wimbledon last year on the back of a much-publicised withdrawal from the French Open, after which she chose her competitions carefully to protect her mental health. She has not played on grass since 2019 and lost a month ago in the first round of the French Open.
At Queen’s Club, Matteo Berrettini reached his fourth consecutive grass court final as he overpowered the unseeded Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp. The defending champion maintained his hot streak on grass to win 6-4, 6-3.
The second seed was briefly held up in the second set by a short rain delay, but he returned to break serve and cruised to victory, ending the contest with a neat drop volley.
The world No 10 reached the Wimbledon final last year, losing to Novak Djokovic, his only defeat in his last 20 matches on grass. The Italian beat Andy Murray in the Stuttgart Open final last Sunday.
Berrettini, 26, will be a big favourite in Sunday’s final against Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic who took advantage of a poor display by the double former winner Marin Cilic. Krajinovic, who had never won a grass-court match before this week, won 6-3, 6-3 against the seventh-seeded Croat.
Krajinovic, 30, continued to surprise himself as he took apart Cilic whose usually strong serve malfunctioned. “I don’t like playing on grass, normally I skip the grass-court events, then turn up and lose in the Wimbledon first round. But maybe I’m starting to like it,” he said.
