BREAKING: Naomi Osaka season over because of injury

Naomi Osaka’s season appears to be over after she said she will not play at next month’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals because of injury.

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion said in Tokyo on Sunday that she had ruptured abdominal muscles.

“I thought I strained my back, but I did an MRI in Beijing and they said that I bulged a disc in my back and I also ruptured abdominal muscles,” Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported the 27-year-old as saying.

Osaka has been sidelined since she retired from her last-16 match at the China Open against eventual champion Coco Gauff at the start of the month.

She pulled out of the Japan Open in Osaka and this week’s Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. On Monday, organisers of the Hong Kong Tennis Open announced that Osaka’s season was over and that she would not participate in the tournament, which starts October 28.

“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,” said a statement on social media.