Naomi Osaka makes her feelings known on returning to competitive action after Australian Open heartbreak

Naomi Osaka has expressed her longing for the tennis court following her heartbreaking 2025 Australian Open exit. The two-time Australian Open champion was forced to retire from the tournament due to an abdominal injury.

Osaka began her 2025 season with a promising start at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where she entered the main draw as the seventh seed. The Japanese tennis star cruised past Lina Glushko, Julia Grabher, Hailey Baptiste, and Alycia Parks to advance to her 13th WTA final, where she was forced to retire against fifth seed Clara Tauson due to an abdominal injury.

Undeterred, Osaka headed to Melbourne for her ninth Australian Open, aiming for a third singles title. Osaka's campaign in Melbourne saw her successfully navigate past Caroline Garcia and 20th seed Karolina Muchova to reach the third round. However, her journey was cut short when she was forced to retire mid-match against Belinda Bencic due to her persistent abdominal injury.

On January 25, 2025, her hitting partner Matias Zukas shared highlights from the Australian Open on social media, which Osaka reshared on her Instagram story, expressing her longing to return to the court.

"Genuinely can't wait to play a tournament again," Osaka wrote.

Naomi Osaka's Instagram story/@naomiosaka

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Naomi Osaka addressed her recurring injury issues following the Australian Open exit

Naomi Osaka during the 2024 National Bank Open (Image source: Getty)

Naomi Osaka spoke about her ongoing battle with injuries during the post-match press conference at the Australian Open, stating:

"Update on my injury is it's not fantastic and I'm feeling I mean not great not bad in the middle somewhere. We were doing everything we could like, I was going to therapy every day and stuff like that in the night."

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion added:

"It's kind of hard just to stay in the moment sometimes in regards to like getting injured because obviously I was in the final in Auckland too and it sucks because I also think I could have maybe won that tournament and it could have been like my first tournament win back but yeah I think I played really well today."

Naomi Osaka is expected to participate in the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha next. Osaka made her debut in Doha in 2018 as a qualifier, eventually reaching the second round before losing 4-6, 1-6 to Anastasija Sevastova.

The World No. 51 made her second appearance last year, defeating Caroline Garcia, Petra Martic, and Lesia Tsurenko to reach the quarterfinals, before losing 6-7(6), 6-7(5) to Karolina Pliskova.