Naomi Osaka Withdraws from Wimbledon Citing Achilles’ Injury

Naomi Osaka, whose four Grand Slam wins came on hard courts, will not play at Wimbledon later this month, she announced in a social media post on Saturday.

Her message shared photos of her rehabbing and receiving acupuncture treatment on her left Achilles’ tendon, an injury which plagued her through a first-round ouster at the French Open last month.

“Trying to find the positives in a negative situation so all love. But there goes my grass dreams,” Osaka said.

Osaka, who has won both hard court Grand Slams — the Australian and U.S. Opens — twice, has never made it past the third round at Wimbledon. She last played the event in 2019, losing in the first round in a year that saw her change coaches after rising to her first No. 1 ranking.

After her exit at Roland Garros last month, Osaka told reporters that she was leaning toward not playing at Wimbledon after the WTA Tour stripped the Grand Slam event of ranking points in response to Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

“I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition,” Osaka said. “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 percent.”