Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the 2022 Wimbledon tournament, the tennis player appeared to confirm on Saturday, after BBC reported the news.
This will make it the third year in a row that the Japanese player has been absent at Wimbledon. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She then skipped the 2021 tournament to spend time with family before the Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old has not played since the French Open, in which she lost in the first round, as she continues to recover from an achilles injury. Osaka recently posted a video of her running on an underwater treadmill to show her progress. This injury is reportedly caused her to withdraw from the grass court major as well.
At the time of her French Open exit, Osaka made it clear that she was considering not playing Wimbledon due to the fact that the ATP and WTA stripped the tournament of any ranking points. This decision came after Wimbledon decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing due to the ongoing Ukraine invasion.
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Osaka ended up calling Wimbledon “like an exhibition” at that point since no ranking points would be rewarded for how a player finishes. This comment rubbed players like two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray the wrong way. The British tennis player argued that playing Wimbledon is worth it regardless of ranking points because of the historical aspect of the tournament.
