Naomi Osaka withdraws from Australian Open
Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the 2023 Australian Open a week before it was scheduled to begin, the tournament announced on Sunday. The tournament is scheduled to begin on Jan. 15, with qualifiers starting Sunday. Naomi Osaka's career takes another hitOsaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, hasn't played a WTA event since withdrawing from the 2022 Toray Pan Pacific Open in September due to abdominal pain. She has won two full-length matches total since losing to Iga Swiatek in the finals of the 2022 Miami Open in April, a span of time that includes the French Open, Wimbledon (from which she also withdrew) and the US Open. Forbes named her the world's highest-paid female athlete last year with an estimated $51.1 million in 2022 income .
wftv.comAustralian Open arrivals hit by 4 COVID-19 positive tests
Health authorities confirmed there'd been three positive tests for COVID-19 returned on Saturday, and another on Sunday. The Australian Open starts on Feb. 8. Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka were among a group of players who arrived on the flight from Los Angeles. Also, Americans Madison Keys and Tennys Sandgren returned positive tests, but Sandgren was given permission to fly after Australian health authorities determined he was no longer contagious though still shedding viral particles. South Australia health officials “confirmed that there is no one who has an active COVID-19 infection in the entire tennis cohort based in Adelaide,” the Australian Open said on Twitter.