Naomi Osaka’s winning return to Wimbledon after five years has left her with mixed emotions. 

After being absent from the tournament since 2019 due to a variety of reasons ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to maternity leave, she was given a testing welcome-back match on Monday. Taking on France’s Diane Parry, Osaka battled to a roller-coaster 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, victory where she had to come back from a break down twice in the decider. 

“It felt really fun and really stressful at the same time,” Osaka said about her experience of playing on Court Two.
“It was just really fun. It felt like an arena. The match I think was a little up-and-down, but I think overall it was something that I can take a lot away from.”

The Japanese player is regarded as one of the most high-profile names in women’s tennis with a quartet of major titles to her name. However, she is yet to make her mark at Wimbledon. She has won just five matches at the tournament so far in her career which is the fewest among any player to have held the WTA No.1 ranking since the system was introduced in 1975. 

Although nobody can rule Osaka out due to her natural talent and powerful ball striking that has caused difficulty for many of her peers over the years.

“I think my serve wasn’t the greatest today. I feel like I definitely should have had a higher percentage,” she reflected on her latest performance.
“Ironically I felt like I returned pretty well. There were certain games where the score didn’t show that, but I felt like I was continuously putting pressure on her. That’s why she double-faulted on the match point.
“I’m glad about that because it’s something that I’ve been working on for a while. To have it, I guess, manifest during the grass season is a really good result for me.”

Osaka now has her second round match to prepare for but before that is another important occasion – her daughter’s first birthday.

“She had a really big celebration a week or so ago. That’s one of the things that I didn’t want to miss. That’s kind of why I didn’t play Eastbourne because I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s first birthday party.” Osaka explained.
“She’s going to have a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy, big event.”

Two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has pulled out of Wimbledon after recently casting doubt on her participation in the tournament. 

The world No.3 has withdrawn from the tournament due to a shoulder injury, according to an official statement from the AELTC. Sabalenka would have been a title contender in the tournament after reaching the quarter-finals or better at the last seven Grand Slam tournaments. 

“I’m heartbroken to tell you all that I won’t be able to play the Championships this year,” Sabalenka said in a statement posted on social media.
“I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not cooperating. I pushed myself to the limit in practice today to try my best, but my team explained that playing would only make things worse. 
“This tournament means so much to me and I promise I’ll be back stronger.”

Over the weekend, the 26-year-old admitted to reporters that she was ‘not 100 percent fit’ and was struggling with a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from her match against Anna Kalinskaya at the Berlin Open in Germany. She later added that there was a ‘chance’ that she wouldn’t be playing. 

“It’s teres major,” she said of her physical issue. “I call it just shoulder injury. It’s really a specific injury, and it’s really a rare one. Probably I’m just the second or the third tennis player who injured that muscle. [It’s] a very frustrating one. The most annoying thing is that I can do anything. I can practice, I can hit my groundstrokes. I’m struggling with serving. That’s really annoying.
“You don’t feel like you’re injured. If you give me some weights, I’m going to go lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I’m going to go through pain. We did an MRI, we did everything. We did a lot of rehab, a lot of treatments.”

Sabalenka has now missed Wimbledon in three out of the past five years. However, the tournament wasn’t held in 2020 due to COVID-19 and in 2022 she was unable to play because of the decision to ban Russian and Belarussian players. 

She will be replaced in the draw by lucky loser Erika Andrea, who will play Emma Betkas in the first round on Monday. 

Marketa Vondrousova predicts ‘many surprises’ will occur in this year’s Wimbledon draw as she bids to become the first woman since 2016 to defend their title. 

The Czech stunned the draw 12 months ago when she beat Ons Jabeur to claim her first and only major title. Her triumph made Vondrousova the seventh different player to win the trophy in as many years. The women’s game has had a reputation for inconsistency over the years but more shocks appear to occur on the grass. 

“I think the draw is really open, for sure. I think we can expect many surprises on the grass courts. I feel like you never know what’s going to happen there,” the world No.6 said on Sunday. 
“I feel like women’s tennis and women’s draws are really open these days and matches are tough, even from the first round. I think we can expect tough matches from the first matches.”

It is this unpredictability that is making the 25-year-old stay grounded about her chances in this year’s event. She is yet to win a title in 2024 with her best run being on the clay when she reached the semi-finals in Stuttgart, as well as the quarter-finals of the French Open. More recently, in Berlin, she suffered an injury scare after slipping on the German grass. 

“I feel like you just have to prepare for the stress and the pressure. Now people are watching you more, they expect you to play semis or finals in every tournament. I don’t think that’s possible.” She said.
“I don’t think you can feel stress-free at all when you are 6 in the world.”

Fortunately for Vondrousova, the scare wasn’t significant enough to have any impact on her Wimbledon preparation. In the first round, she will take on Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro who has won two ITF events and a WTA 125 already this year. 

“It was really scary. I didn’t play for a couple of days. I’m feeling good. I hope it’s going to be okay.” She concluded.

The last woman to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles was Serena Williams.