Advertising

Naomi Osaka has hit some highs this season, but she's finding the expectations around her are even higher. After a promising week in Stuttgart, she withdrew from her semifinal against Anett Kontaveit with an abdominal injury.

Advertising

Kontaveit will play Petra Kvitova in Sunday's final after the Czech bested Kiki Bertens, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-1. Kvitova will be playing her fourth final of the season, seeking her second title.

Advertising

Osaka is well aware of her tendency to get injured during the dirt swing.

"Every other court... I have more experience than I have on clay because honestly, every time I come here I get injured," Osaka said earlier in the week.

Osaka pulls out of Stuttgart semifinal against Kontaveit with injury

Osaka pulls out of Stuttgart semifinal against Kontaveit with injury

Advertising

The 21-year-old won her second straight Grand Slam at the Australian Open to reach No.1 in the rankings. But since then, it has been tricky on and off the court: Osaka split with her coach, Sascha Bajin, and fell in her opener in Dubai.

Next was a fourth-round defeat to Belinda Bencic in Indian Wells, where she was the defending champion, and a loss to Su-Wei Hsieh in the third round in Miami, when it was also revealed that a childhood coach was suing her for a portion of her earnings.

But as far as Osaka is concerned, her season has been positive as a whole, and she did get revenge over Hsieh in her first round in Stuttgart.

"I'm just going to say it," she said, after coming back from a 5-1 down in the third set against Donna Vekic to reach the semifinals. "I don't understand why people are saying I'm having a bad season. I won Australian Open, [in 2018] I didn't win the Australian Open. Sure, I didn't win Indian Wells, but I still thought I did pretty good there, [and] in Miami. And I'm here now."

Still, Osaka acknowledged that the criticism has affected her.

"I would be lying if I said it wasn't bothering me. It just builds up," she said. "I think you could tell though because I started getting really antsy on court. I felt like I wasn't really enjoying. For me, when I play my best is when I have fun playing tennis. But during those few weeks, I was waking up wanting to win."

During the week, Osaka has spoken of getting down about her previous few months, but hopes Stuttgart is the start of a change. Though tempted to sarcastically describe reaching the semifinals as "saving her season before it starts," Osaka added that playing on clay "helps a lot because I know no one has high expectations."

Her third-set comeback in the quarterfinals should have given her confidence, but her subsequent withdrawal has left the rest of her clay season in doubt.