Naomi Osaka's 2024 comeback season ends early due to back injury

Naomi Osaka's comeback 2024 season has ended earlier than expected due to a back injury. The former world No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion's abrupt end to her comeback year after maternity leave was announced Monday by the official social media channels of the WTA 250 Hong Kong Tennis Open, where Osaka had been expected to play.

The event begins on Oct. 28.

“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,” Osaka said in a statement shared by the tournament. Osaka last played a match on Oct. 1, when she retired after splitting sets with eventual champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round of the China Open.

The 27-year-old is the latest high-profile player to end her season early, joining Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur and Elina Svitolina, among others. She also withdrew from this week's Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, which she won in 2019 and reached the final in two other appearances.

Osaka largely kept mum on her physical state after Beijing, but hinted at an underlying issue: She posted a photo of her in a hospital gown days after leaving Beijing, and responded to a fan's Instagram question last week that the problem was "worse than she thought," and that she was "trying her best" to "potentially play" her home event in Japan.

A report from the English-language arm of Japan's Kyodo News indicated that Osaka's injury is a bulging disc in her back, as well as abdominal tears, and that she also withdrew from the Japanese team for next month's Billie Jean King Cup Finals which are being held in Malaga, Spain.

Osaka, who gave birth to her first child last July, posted a 22-17 win-loss record in 2024, and reached the quarterfinals at events Doha and 's-Hertogenbosch—but did not advance past the second round at any of the four Grand Slams or the Paris Olympics. The former world No.1 notched a total of six Top 20 victories in 2024, including her first Top 10 victory in two years by beating Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the US Open.

Osaka is currently ranked No. 56.