The former World No.1 jumped nearly 800 spots in the rankings this year. 
Naomi Osaka’s comeback season has come to an early conclusion. The four-time Grand Slam champion announced that she’s ending her season early due to the back injury that forced her to retire from her match against Coco Gauff at the China Open in Beijing.
“I thought I strained my back, but I did an MRI in Beijing,” Osaka told reporters in Tokyo, according to the Kyodo News Agency. “They said I bulged a disc in my back and I also ruptured abdominal muscles. I was practicing in Los Angeles in order to play here. I took another MRI and it said I still have tears.
“I’ve played so many tournaments this year, so it was the toughest decision to not play this and not play BJK.”
“I’m really sorry that I have had to withdraw from competing at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open and the rest of this tennis season,” she wrote, according to a statement from Hong Kong Tennis Open, where she pulled out.
Osaka finishes her first season as a mom at 22-17. She is currently ranked 56 – up from 831 at this year’s Australian Open, where she returned to the tour after a 15-month hiatus and the birth of her child, daughter Shai, on July 4, 2023.
The HKCTA is disappointed to announce that Naomi Osaka has been forced to withdraw from competing at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2024 due to injury, in an unfortunate end to her tennis season in 2024.
However, Naomi has confirmed she will still be attending the… pic.twitter.com/twctM9BJVS
— HongKong Tennis Open (@HKTennisOpen) October 21, 2024
It has been a turbulent season for Osaka, who parted ways with coach Wim Fissette in September and hired Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, later in the month.
She injured her back in the first event she played with Mouratoglou in her box, after winning three consecutive matches to reach the round of 16.