"It finally happened" - Naomi Osaka laments 'exhaustion fever' after multiple consecutive tournaments ending with Wimbledon

Naomi Osaka said she's experiencing exhaustion fever currently, having played too many tournaments in a row. The 26-year-old returned to the WTA tour in January after missing part of the 2022 season and the whole 2023 season, owing to the birth of her daughter, Shai.

Osaka's appearance at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships was her first time competing in the tournament since 2019. The grass-court major didn't occur in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, she missed the tournament due to struggles with depression and anxiety. In 2022, she withdrew from the tournament citing an Achilles injury.

On Monday, the Japanese player posted a selfie on her Instagram story and wrote she had a fever due to exhaustion. The last time she had this experience was five years ago.

“It finally happened... After many years of saying I never get sick. I now have a fever. In my defense I think it's an exhaustion fever, I had it once before 5 years ago after a really long stretch of tournaments,” - Naomi Osaka said

Naomi Osaka shared this story after her Wimbledon 2024 exit (IMAGE: Instagram \ @NaomiOsaka)

Osaka's 2024 Wimbledon run ended on Wednesday, July 3, when she lost to Emma Navarro, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round. All four of her Grand Slam titles have come on hard courts: two each at the Australian Open and US Open. The furthest she's made at Wimbledon is the third round, which she did in 2017 and 2018.

Naomi Osaka will participate at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Naomi Osaka is ready for another run at the Olympics (IMAGE: GETTY)

The Japanese Tennis Association announced in June 2024 that Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Following her second-round match against Navarro at Wimbledon 2024, Osaka told the media that an early exit would help her prepare well for the Olympics.

“Since I’m out so early, I really want to take the time and train for the Olympics because I do want to do well. I do know that my last clay court match was really good. So I might end up liking that surface a lot more than grass now,” Osaka said

In the Tokyo 2020 events, Osaka had the honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. She defeated Zheng Saisai and Viktorija Golubic in the first two rounds of the event, but ended up losing to Markéta Vondroušová in the third round.