Naomi Osaka pulls out of Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo due to illness on Thursday
Naomi Osaka waves to her fans during the first round at the Japan Open third-round match between Jarkko Nieminen and Akiko Ohmi on day one of the Japan Open at the Ariake Coliseum as she was forced to retire from the tournament on Thursday, in Tokyo on April 18, 2019. (Nikkipo Yamaoka/Kyodo News via AP)
Naomi Osaka pulls out of Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo due to illness on Thursday
Naomi Osaka pulled out of her first-round match against the defending champion at the Japan Open on Thursday due to illness.
After retiring in the first round of the women’s singles at the Japan Open, Osaka said she was suffering from an ongoing chest infection that kept affecting her health, as well as a shoulder injury.
The 24-year-old said in a statement on Twitter she was extremely disappointed she had to pull out, especially given her chances of defending the Japan Open title for the first time in her career.
Naomi Osaka withdrew from her first round match due to illness on Thursday. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
The Japanese star took to social media to express her disappointment in a statement, tweeting, “I have been training very hard for the past week and have a very poor excuse to say that I will not be able to participate in this tournament. I would like to say to my fans and to all of Japan — and to all the fans around the world — that I will be with you very soon.”
She then added a message to all of her fans, telling them that although she was unable to compete, the tournament was still a success for her and her supporters.
“Thank you to everyone who was with me, and thank you so much for your love and support during this journey. I apologize to the other players in the tournament for my inability to compete, but I am able to say that I feel very proud of myself and of my fans.
“I wanted to give something back to you and I want to tell you that though I am unable to compete, I am still very proud of how the fans cheered and how they kept me in their hearts.
“I want to thank the fans who voted for me. I was shocked and very saddened to
