Naomi Osaka misses the Australian Open after suffering a hairline fracture

Naomi Osaka pulls out of Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo due to illness on Thursday, but she will play for Japan on Thursday

The news didn’t come as a shock to Osaka fans, who are hoping that the world No. 2 has a full recovery. Osaka withdrew from last year’s Australian Open on Monday and suffered a hairline fracture to her left ankle. It has since been confirmed that she will have microfracture surgery on Wednesday to fix the fracture, which requires around a five-week recovery.

Osaka has won seven consecutive WTA titles, the latest in January, but she’s also notched a number of notable victories, both on and off the tour. At the 2015 Australian Open, she recorded her fourth consecutive title after defeating world No. 13 Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. At the 2014 U.S. Open, she defeated world No. 1 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 5 Simona, and No. 25 Elena Vesnina to win her eighth WTA title.

Osaka has reached the final of three of her last five finals, having recently reached her second straight U.S. Open semifinals, where she fell to No. 16 Naomi Osaka.

The former No. 1 said that she’s disappointed to miss out on her first Slam event this year.

“I would like to play at least one match on tour next year,” Osaka said. “It just sucks that I can’t go to a Slam. I would like to play at least one game on tour. I would like to have a nice opportunity to play a Slam.”

Although the injury did not affect Osaka’s game in the first half of last year, she has struggled with consistency in her career. For much of 2015, Osaka has been a top-10 in the world, but she has yet to make the final for a major tournament.

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