Naomi Osaka was eliminated in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday. The Japanese defending champion and former number one in the world lost in three sets to the unseeded Amanda Anisimova. Osaka returned to the track at the Australian Open after taking a temporary hiatus from her career due to mental health issues.
After the thirteenth seed Osaka won the first set 6-4, she lost the second set 6-3. In the decisive third set, American Anisimova came out on top with 7-6. In an exciting tiebreak she faced two match points, but Osaka failed to cash in on them.
In the fourth round, Anisimova will face current world number one Ashleigh Barty, who survived the first three rounds without a problem and without losing a set. On Wednesday, Barty defeated Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in two sets: 6-1, 6-1. Australian Barty is one of the title favorites in Melbourne.
After Osaka was eliminated in the third round of the US Open in September last year, she no longer played games because tennis made her “not happy”. According to Osaka, among other things, the mandatory conversations with the press lead to mental problems in athletes. After she did not want to speak to the press during Roland Garros in May 2021 and threatened to be expelled from the tournament by the organization, she left the tournament herself. Osaka received a lot of praise for making mental problems a topic of discussion among athletes.