Naomi Osaka won’t be joining her Japanese teammates in Shenzhen, China, for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Following her semifinal defeat at the US Open, Osaka withdrew from the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Team Japan will now be led by world number 92 Moyuka Uchijima, who has yet to win a singles title on the WTA Tour.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
There’s no doubt that Osaka will be sorely missed in Shenzhen, as the team could have used a player of the four-time Grand Slam winner’s experience at the finals.
Japan’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Ai Sugiyama has now revealed why Osaka isn’t competing at this year’s tournament.
Naomi Osaka is injured but ‘really wanted to compete’ at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
During her pre-tournament press conference, Sugiyama had this to say about the former world number one.
“Actually, she [Naomi Osaka] got injured,” she said.
“She really wanted to come here to compete. But, she has to recover from the injury first.”
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Sugiyama then revealed whether she’d spoken to Osaka since she withdrew from the event.
“I hope she’s cheering for us,” she said.
“I haven’t talked to her much. She was too disappointed because she got injured.
“But I’m sure she’s cheering for us.”
The 50-year-old proceeded to comment on Osaka’s 2025 campaign, highlighting the biggest improvement she’s made recently.
“I’m happy to see her really doing well. Runner-up in Montreal, semis in the US Open. The most important thing, she’s enjoying playing again. She’s more relaxed. Seems like she’s relieved from all the pressure, I think,” said Sugiyama.
Naomi Osaka’s best results in 2025(January) – ASB Classic – Lost in F to Clara Tauson(May) – WTA 125 Saint-Malo – Won(August) – Canadian Open – Lost in F to Victoria Mboko(September) – US Open – Lost in SF to Amanda Anisimova
“Being a mother, her priority maybe changed a little bit even before she was, you know, dealing with the pressure. Now she’s more relaxed on court.
“She’s performing really well. I’m happy to see her really doing well.”
Sugiyama was joined in her praise of Osaka by Japanese number three, Uchijima.
“I was watching her on TV since I was a kid. Yeah, she inspired us a lot, not only me, I think everybody sitting here,” she said.
“We are really happy to see she’s back at her level, giving us more motivation to kind of catch up with her, play in the same tournaments.
“Now she’s injured a bit, so I hope she recovers well. Good luck to her for the rest of the Asian swing.”
Osaka is currently scheduled to return to WTA Tour action at the China Open, which begins next week.
Naomi Osaka can move into WTA Finals contention with China Open win
The Japanese star hasn’t competed at the WTA Finals since 2019, when she failed to advance past the group stage for the second year in a row.
Thanks to her efforts in Montreal and New York, Osaka is in with an outside chance of qualifying for this year’s finals.
RankNameCountryPointsStatus1Aryna SabalenkaBelarus9,610Qualified (Won Grand Slam/Points)2Iga SwiatekPoland7,534Qualified (Won Grand Slam/Points)3Coco GauffUSA5,184Qualified (Won Grand Slam)4Amanda AnisimovaUSA4,908Currently qualifying5Madison KeysUSA4,450Qualified (Won Grand Slam)6Jessica PegulaUSA4,209Currently qualifying7Mirra AndreevaRussia4,189Currently qualifying8Elena RybakinaKazakhstan3,751Currently qualifying9Jasmine PaoliniItaly3,526Not currently qualifying10Ekaterina AlexandrovaRussia2,871Not currently qualifying11Elina SvitolinaUkraine2,606Not currently qualifying12Clara TausonDenmark2,553Not currently qualifying13Emma NavarroUSA2,310Not currently qualifying14Naomi OsakaJapan2,244Not currently qualifying15Belinda BencicSwitzerland2,229Not currently qualifyingTop 15 players in the Live WTA Race
If Osaka were to add another 1,000 points to her tally with a win in China, she’d likely jump into the top ten, leaving her on the brink of qualification.
The reality is, making it to Riyadh may be a step too far for Osaka in 2025, although the fact she is even in the conversation is a credit to the work she’s put in over the past few months.
When Osaka split with Patrick Mouratoglou after the grass-court season, things weren’t looking great for the four-time major winner, but just months later, her future looks bright once again.
Only time will tell if Osaka can pick up the China Open title in 2025, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action when the tournament begins on Wednesday, September 24.
AloJapan.com