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Tennis star Naomi Osaka's preparation for the forthcoming Australian Open was set back on January 5 after the star player was forced to retire from the crucial encounter at the ASB Classic against Clara Tauson due to severe abdominal strain.
In what is so-called to be a Tennis Channel announcer, Chanda Rubin has been dubbed as a "most unusual conclusion" to the WTA 250 rankings level taking place in Auckland, New Zealand, and the four-time Grand Slam winner was leading the game with 6-4 when she could no longer continue the game.
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Osaka was forced to call it quits after winning the first set
After playing first and striking tennis and dominating early stages, Osaka reached out to a 5-1 lead against the fifth-seeded Dane, who herself was contesting her first round since 2021. As Tauson later found her range in the game, Osaka suffered defeat in the three back-to-back matches before steadying to serve out the opening game.
However, at the set break of the game, a visibly distraught 27-year-old tennis star was visited by the tournament's physio, and after speaking with her and speaking with Tauson, she retired in the game.
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“Now that you mention it, I didn’t eat breakfast today so maybe that’s why I should stick to my superstitions. I want to thank everyone for welcoming me to such a beautiful city. I had a lot of fun playing here. I’m really sorry about how it ended. I’m just really grateful to be here. I had a lot of fun playing here, and I'm really sorry about how it ended. I hope you enjoyed the tennis that we did play, and I'm just really grateful to be here," Naomi Osaka said as being quoted by Tennis Letter.