Naomi Osaka, four times a grand slam champion on hard courts, has withdrawn from Wimbledon after failing to recover from an achilles injury.
“My achilles still isn’t right, so I’ll see you next time,” the former world No 1 wrote on Twitter, shortly after her name appeared on an updated withdrawals’ list published by the tournament.
“Trying to find the positives in a negative situation, so all love,” Osaka later added on Instagram, alongside photos of her undergoing ultrasound treatment and acupuncture on the injury. “But there goes my grass dreams.”
Osaka, who has never been beyond the third round at the All England Club, has not played at Wimbledon since 2019. The 24-year-old withdrew last year to take time away from tennis following the furore caused by her decision to skip media duties at the French Open.
Osaka’s withdrawal comes after she suggested last month that she might not play at Wimbledon in light of the WTA’s decision to strip the event of ranking points in retaliation for the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
“The decision is kind of affecting my mentality going into grass, like I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to go there,” Osaka said following her opening-round defeat to Amanda Anisimova at the French Open.
“I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass courts, but at the same time, for me, it’s kind of like – I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended – but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up, stuff like that. I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.
Osaka, who is ranked 43rd in the world, added: “I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way. Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%.”
The 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, whose name appeared alongside Osaka’s on the list of withdrawals, likewise cited concerns about the absence of ranking points as she returns from the shoulder injury that has kept her out since March of last year.
“I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA’s decision to not award ranking points at this year’s Championships,” said Bouchard, who would have needed to use her protected ranking to enter.
“Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking [PR] entries. As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn’t make sense.
“I must choose wisely and use my PR entries at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be.”
In Berlin, Belinda Bencic survived an epic match against Maria Sakkari, prevailing 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and seven minutes to reach the final for a second successive year.
“I thought that was an incredible match,” said Bencic, the eighth seed. “We both kind of pushed really hard, we both didn’t give each other anything. I think it was high quality, of course we held our serves as much as we could, and I really felt like we put on a show.”
Bencic, who lost out to Liudmila Samsonova in the final last year, will play Ons Jabeur on Sunday after the Tunisian top seed saw off French Open finalist Coco Gauff 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
Matteo Berrettini, the defending champion, will play Filip Krajinovic of Serbia in the final at Queen’s Club.
Berrettini, who is aiming to win a second successive title on grass following his victory over Andy Murray in Stuttgart last weekend, came through a rain-delayed match against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-3. The Italian second seed, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer, has won all but one of his past 20 matches on grass.
“It feels unbelievable, I’m really happy” said Berrettini. “Today was a really tough match, we stopped for the rain, I had a lot of chances, I got broken when I was serving for the first set, windy again today – so really tough to play, but I think I played my best match of the week.”
Krajinovic, meanwhile, who had never won a tour-level match on grass before this week, upset seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fifth final of his career. The 30-year-old has lost the previous four.
“It’s just a dream for me,” said the 48th-ranked Krajinovic. “To be honest, I don’t like to play on grass. Every year, I find a way to skip the tournaments, just coming to Wimbledon, losing first round, and for the last 10 years it’s been like that. Maybe it will change, I don’t know. I’ve started to like it, actually, so let’s see how it’s going to go.”
In Halle, Daniil Medvedev is also through to his second grass court final in as many weeks after defeating Oscar Otte of Germany 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Medvedev, who was beaten by Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands in ‘s-Hertogenbosch a week ago, will face Hubert Kurkacz in the final after the Polish fifth seed beat Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).
“I didn’t play well in Halle last year, so I’m happy that this year I managed to raise my level,” said Medvedev, the world No 1, who lost to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the opening round last year.
“As I’ve always said, I love playing on grass, so I’m happy to show to myself that I’m capable of being in the final of one of the greatest tournaments, especially on grass.”