Back injury forces Naomi Osaka to wrap up 2024 season early

Naomi Osaka

View Profile will sit out the remainder of the 2024 Hologic WTA Tour season, citing a back injury. The Hong Kong Tennis Open, a WTA 250 event set to begin on Oct. 28, announced on its social media channels Monday that the four-time Grand Slam champion is not only withdrawing from the tournament but also ending her season early.

Osaka was forced to retire from her fourth-round match against Coco Gauff

View Profile at the China Open three weeks ago with an the injury and has not played since. She wrote on social media last week in response to a fan's Instagram question that the problem was "worse than she thought," and that she was "trying her best" to "potentially play" her home event in Tokyo, which she won in 2019.

But Osaka wasn't in the draw for this week's tournament in Japan, the final WTA 500 event of the year, when it was made over the weekend.

“I’m really sorry that I have had to withdraw from competing at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open and the rest of this tennis season,” Osaka said in a statement shared by the Hong Kong tournament.

Osaka added she was obviously disappointed about not being able to complete in Hong Kong, but was looking forward to attending the event anyway. 

"There is a wonderful lineup of world-class players coming to the tournament, and I want to wish them all the best of luck in this exciting event." 

In her comeback from maternity leave in 2024, Osaka posted a 22-17 win-loss record and reached the quarterfinals in Doha and 's-Hertogenbosch. The former World No.1 earned her first Top 10 victory in two years by beating Jelena Ostapenko

View Profile in the first round of the US Open and notched a total of six Top 20 victories on the year.

After starting the season unranked, Osaka currently sits at No.56 in the PIF WTA Rankings.