Naomi Osaka in tears as she suffers injury scare ahead of Australian Open after ‘worst final’
Naomi Osaka enjoyed an incredible start to the 2025 tennis season as she reached her first WTA Tour final in nearly three years, but she ended the match in tears due to injury and newly-crowned ASB Classic winner Clara Tauson later described it as “the worst final I’ve ever played emotionally”.
Former world No 1 Osaka defeated Alycia Parks in straight sets in the Auckland semi-final to reach her first title match since April 2022 with Tauson awaiting in the grand finale.
And she made a blistering start as she raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set on the back of two consecutive breaks of serve before Tauson staged a mini fightback.
Osaka, though, wrapped up the opening set 6-4 and immediately took a medical timeout for treatment on her lower abdomen.
The four-time Grand Slam winner was emotional while speaking to the trainer and then got up from her chair and walked over to her opponent to confirm her retirement from the match.
After shaking hands with the chair umpire, Osaka was seen wiping away tears and there are now major concerns over her fitness with the start of the Australian Open just a week away.
She is a two-time champion at Melbourne Park with titles in 2019 and 2021 while last year she lost in the first round as she was still nursing her way back following maternity leave.
The 27-year-old was not scheduled to play any events in the week before the season-opening Grand Slam and she didn’t give too much away about the injury during the post-match trophy presentation ceremony.
“I just want to thank everyone for welcoming me to such a beautiful city and I had a lot of fun playing here and I’m really sorry about how it ended,” she stated.
“I hope you did enjoy the tennis that we did play and I’m just really grateful to be here.”
Osaka is set to return to the top 50 of the WTA Rankings on Monday as she is expected to rise eight spots while Tauson will move up nine places to No 41.
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It is a third career title for the Dane and her first since September 2021, but it was a bittersweet moment.
“First of all I have to say I’m really sorry about this final. Naomi was playing some great tennis today. That’s the worst final I’ve ever played emotionally,” she said.
“I can’t feel happy. I’m just sad about what happened today. I am happy about the week I had. I’m happy that I won… but not really.”
