Australian Open 2026: Naomi Osaka withdraws from Grand Slam tournament through injury

Two-time champion Naomi Osaka withdrew from her Australian Open third-round match shortly before she was due to take the court against Maddison Inglis in the home qualifier.

Osaka, a 28-year-old Japanese woman, talked about her left abdominal injury while leaving the game.

The announcement came about two hours before the pair were expected to travel to Rod Laver Arena for the Saturday night session.

“I had to make the difficult decision to withdraw after my last match to address something my body needed attention,” Osaka, ranked 16th, wrote on Instagram.

“I was so excited to get going and this run was the most important thing to me, so it breaks my heart to stop here but I can’t risk doing any more damage to get back on the field.”

Inglis, 28, is ranked 168th in the world and has reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

Overlooked by Tennis Australia due to a wild card, she has made it through three qualifying rounds and will now face Polish second seed Iga Swiatek or Russian 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-finals.