'Still isn't right' - Naomi Osaka pulls out of Wimbledon with Achilles injury and will not play grass events

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of Wimbledon with an Achilles injury. The four-time Grand Slam champion has been battling to get back to full fitness after her shock first round French Open defeat to Amanda Anisimova last month.

Ad/> Speculation has been rife that Osaka would not be appearing at Wimbledon after she failed to take part in any of the grass court events despite appearing on the singles entry list for the championships. WimbledonWhen does Wimbledon start? What is the schedule? When is the draw?16/06/2022 AT 10:46 Osaka tweeted a message on social media explaining that she was trying to ensure that she remembered that «after the storm comes the calm».

She then added simply that «my Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time» in reference to the grass-court section of the calendar, including Wimbledon. /> Last month, Osaka cast doubt on her participation at the grass-court Slam, saying: “I would love to go to get some experience on the grass court, but I’m the type of player who gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up.” She supported her answer to another question in Japanese, saying: «I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points it’ll be more like an exhibition.

»I know this isn’t true, but my brain just feels like that way and whenever I think of something like an exhibition I just can’t go at it 100 per cent. 'Don't judge us too harshly' — Andy Murray pleads with media to lay off Emma Raducanu 'We fought our best' — Belina Bencic beats Maria Sakkari to set up German Open final “I didn’t even make my decision yet but I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances.