Naomi Osaka withdraws from Wimbledon warm-up event, raising doubts about her SW19 entry

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Naomi Osaka in action

Naomi Osaka has delayed her return to tennis as she has pulled out of the bett1open in Berlin, putting major question marks over her participation at Wimbledon.

The four-time major winner is taking a break from tennis following her mid-tournament French Open withdrawal last week. The 23-year-old pulled out of the clay-court Grand Slam, revealing she has suffered from bouts of depression since 2018, after her decision not to do press conferences resulted in the four Grand Slams threatening to expel her.

Naomi Osaka posts first social media message since French Open withdrawal

Her return date remains uncertain as she won’t feature at next week’s WTA 500 event in Germany with organisers confirming she is still taking a “break”.

“We have received notification Naomi Osaka cannot start in Berlin. After consulting her management, she will take a break,” a statement read.

It puts her Wimbledon participation in doubt as the Berlin event was due to be her only warm-up event ahead of the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts on June 28.

However, the world No 2 could still get some grass-court action under her belt before The Championships start as she could opt for a late entry into the Eastbourne International in the United Kingdom or the Bad Homburg Open in Germany.

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