INDIAN WELLS (AFP) – Naomi Osaka’s roller-coaster season continued with a first-round loss at Indian Wells on Wednesday that left the four-time Grand Slam winner apologising on social media.
“Worst match I’ve ever played in my life,” the former world number one from Japan said in a post on Threads shortly after falling 6-4, 6-4 to Colombia’s Camila Osorio.
“Wow, I’m so sorry to everyone who watched that.”
But speaking to reporters, Osaka was a little less hard on herself as she assessed her first match since she was forced out of the Australian Open by the same abdominal injury that caused her to retire from the final in Auckland. “I don’t think it was too good on my end,” Osaka said. “There were certain things that felt extremely off, because I could only start to practice serving after a certain amount of time and stuff like that.
“So I think given the situation, it wasn’t that terrible. But I would have liked to win and continue playing the tournament.”
