Osaka Joins List of Big Names Missing Australian Open

Tennis - Yarra Valley Classic - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, February 5, 2021 Japan's Naomi Osaka celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
Tennis - Yarra Valley Classic - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, February 5, 2021 Japan's Naomi Osaka celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
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Osaka Joins List of Big Names Missing Australian Open

Tennis - Yarra Valley Classic - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, February 5, 2021 Japan's Naomi Osaka celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
Tennis - Yarra Valley Classic - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, February 5, 2021 Japan's Naomi Osaka celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka became the latest star to pull out of the opening Grand Slam of the year Sunday, leaving the tournament deprived of some of the biggest names in the game.

No reason for the Japanese player's withdrawal was given with organizers Tennis Australia tweeting: "We will miss her at AO2023."

Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska was promoted to the main draw at Melbourne Park in her absence, AFP reported.

Osaka has not played a competitive match since September and reports last week said that, despite being on the official entry list, Tennis Australia were having trouble verifying her whereabouts.

The 25-year-old's social media accounts indicated that she had been travelling in Europe with her on-again, off-again boyfriend rapper Cordae.

Her no-show was another blow for the tournament starting on January 16 after US Open champion and world number one Carlos Alcaraz withdrew on Friday with a right leg problem.

Veteran American Venus Williams will also be missing after picking an injury at last week's Auckland Classic and handing back the wildcard she had been awarded.

Open organizers were already reeling from the retirements last year of reigning women's champion Ashleigh Barty and legends Serena Williams and Roger Federer.

Former world number one and two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep is another not playing after she was provisionally suspended in October for taking the banned substance roxadustat.

But nine-time champion Novak Djokovic is back after missing last year's event when he was deported over his vaccination status.

Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal, who won the 2022 title in Djokovic's absence, will also line up, taking over the top seeding from Alcaraz.

Osaka, the champion in Melbourne in 2019 and 2021, last played at a tournament in Tokyo in September before pulling out with abdominal pain, slumping to 42 in the world rankings.

The four-time Grand Slam winner has previously talked about struggles with her mental health and spent all of 2022 outside the top 10, enduring first-round defeats at both the French and US Opens. She withdrew from Wimbledon with an Achilles' injury.

Speaking at the Pan Pacific Open in September, she admitted she had gone through "more down than up" in 2022.

"This year has been not the best year for me but I've learned a lot about myself," said Osaka, who also won Grand Slams at Flushing Meadows in 2018 and 2020.

"Life is ups and downs, and this year was more down than up, but overall I'm pretty happy with where I am now."



All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
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All Eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP After Ruthless Red Bull Move 

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)

Yuki Tsunoda will be center of attention at his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend after joining Max Verstappen at a Red Bull team desperate to reel in McLaren following their ominous start to the season.

Tsunoda was already a hero at Suzuka but his sudden promotion at the expense of Liam Lawson puts him under a whole new level of scrutiny as partner to the four-time world champion Verstappen.

Red Bull axed Lawson last week after the New Zealander's disastrous start to his debut season, which saw him fail to score any points in the first two race weekends.

The 24-year-old Tsunoda steps up from sister team RB, with Lawson moving the other way to the team he drove for last season.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has told the Japanese driver to get as "close as possible" to Verstappen, said Tsunoda, whose highest finish at a race is fourth in 2021 at Abu Dhabi for RB, then called AlphaTauri.

"In the end Red Bull Racing are focused on Max scoring a drivers' championship," Tsunoda told the BBC.

"He also promised me, in some situations, that if I'm able to be in front of Max that he wouldn't necessarily ask me to swap positions and make Max win."

Tsunoda said he will be happy if he can finish in the top 10 and score points on his Red Bull debut.

Now in his fifth Formula One season, he has shown pace this season.

He was 12th in the season-opener at Melbourne then picked up three points for coming sixth in the Shanghai Saturday sprint.

He only finished out of the points in the China main race because of RB's flawed two-stop pit strategy.

Red Bull's cars will have a special white livery at Suzuka in tribute to their partner Honda's maiden victory in Formula One, in Mexico in 1965.

Verstappen is second in the drivers' standings but Horner needs his ruthless driver change to kick-start Red Bull's constructors' championship campaign after ceding early ground to McLaren.

- Suzuka specialist Verstappen -

Australia's Oscar Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to a one-two in Shanghai, after the Briton took the chequered flag in Melbourne.

"Apart from Ferrari I don't think there's another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much," said Norris, who leads the drivers' championship on 44 points.

"For us, that's a huge advantage."

Norris is 12 ahead of Verstappen with Mercedes' George Russell third on 35 and Piastri on 34.

Verstappen has yet to win this season -- he was second in Melbourne, fourth in the Chinese GP and third in the Shanghai sprint.

But the Dutchman has won in Japan for the last three years in a row, clinching his second world championship there in 2022, and has spoken frequently of his love for the "old school" Suzuka circuit.

He romped home 12.5sec clear of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez last season.

"Whenever I needed to go faster I could, whenever I needed to look after my tires I could," said Verstappen. "That's always a nice feeling."

Ferrari will be looking to get their season into gear in Japan after a calamitous outing in China two weeks ago.

The Italian team started the weekend on a high when Lewis Hamilton controlled the sprint from pole for his first win in Scuderia red.

But their joy turned to despair when the seven-time world champion and teammate Charles Leclerc were both disqualified from the main race for technical infringements.

Hamilton's former team Mercedes have made a solid start with a pair of third-placed finishes from Russell.

Teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli has also shown early promise, finishing fourth and sixth in his first two grands prix.