“Is This Worse Than Anyone Feared?” — Naomi Osaka Set for MRI Scan After Brutal 66-Minute US Open Defeat, Leaving Fans Anxiously Waiting for Answers About Her Fitness
Naomi Osaka has revealed that she will have an MRI scan after bowing out of the US Open with a one-sided defeat to Elena Rybakina. The two-time former champion, who reached the semi-finals a year ago, has been carrying an Achilles injury since June. And the problem “got a lot worse” as she suffered a bruising 6-1 6-4 defeat to the No. 2 seed in just 66 minutes.
It’s good news for Rybakina, who is now one win away from securing the world No. 1 ranking for the very first time in her career. But Osaka is now looking for answers as she enters the home stretch of the 2026 season.
The No. 13 seed didn’t look like herself against Rybakina, and hit just nine winners to a staggering 29 from her Kazakh opponent. Afterwards, Osaka confirmed that she was physically “compromised” during the match.
“I mean, like, the last match I played, I felt a lot in my leg. Then this morning, it just got a lot worse,” the four-time Grand Slam champion explained.
“I don’t know, I felt like I played the best that I could given the situation. The crowd was really, really into it, so it was fun. It was unfortunate, obviously. But yeah, life goes on.”
Osaka hit five double faults during the 66-minute match and said that the Achilles issue affected her serve. “I can’t really push off like I want, and when I land, it hurts a little,” she said.
I was trying to figure out ways to, I guess, minimise it. I thought if I served a little slower, the impact when I land would be less. I think it worked for a little bit, but obviously she broke me in the second set, so.”
While Osaka isn’t planning to cut her 2026 season short, she is now planning to have an MRI scan to learn the full extent of the injury, and will be smart with her scheduling before taking some time off at the end of the year.
She added: “Yesterday I got an ultrasound, and then I got an ultrasound again just now, and I’m probably going to go get an MRI, because honestly, I don’t really know too much about what’s going on.
“I think managing it… Thankfully we’re at the end of the year, so after the Asian swing, we do get like two weeks off. So yeah, I’m just going to, I would say, make do with the time that I have and try to be smart about the amount of matches I play.”
Osaka is next expected to play the China Open, a WTA 1000 event held from September 30 to October 11.
