Japan’s Naomi Osaka in action during her round of 64 match against Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich on September 27, 2025. — Reuters
PERTH: Sick Naomi Osaka was defeated by her Greek opponent Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2 in the United Cup clash on Friday at RAC Arena in Perth.
The Japanese four-time Grand Slam champion said that she fell “really sick” over Christmas and was not feeling well in the match.
After the result, Greece had a 1-0 lead in their clash, before Stefanos Tsitsipas secured a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Shintaro Mochizuki shortly after.
“I have been dealing with some health stuff, so I’m kind of just happy to be out here right now,” Osaka said.
“It’s not serious, but I’m not operating at the per cent that I want to be operating at, which kind of sucks, because I had a really good off season, so I thought I was going to do really well here.”
Osaka added that she will hopefully be better before the Australian Open starts.
“But then I got really sick, so I think I’m at the tail end of that, but still not amazing,” she added.
“I’m just trying to get better every day. I had a cough, a runny nose, like all that nasty stuff, so hopefully it goes away before the Australian Open.”
Before the match, Osaka, who won Australian Open titles in 2019 and 2021, said she was taking inspiration from her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Shai, as she began the new year.
“My daughter is an incentive, she’s (always) in the back of my mind. There are a lot of incredible moms on the tour,” the 28-year-old said in Perth on Thursday.
“I was able to spend time with my daughter while I recovered from a long season, even if I didn’t play the entire thing.
“My form will hopefully be good in my matches. I feel in shape and excited for the upcoming season.”
AloJapan.com