Osaka ill at United Cup, to return to Australian Open

Four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka is feeling under the weather at the United Cup. After losing her first match for Japan against Greece’s Maria Sakkari on Friday, Osaka said she got “really sick” over the Christmas holiday period and wasn’t operating at 100 per cent during the 6-4, 6-2 loss.

Osaka was coughing at times during the match and appeared to lack energy. She said she likely caught an illness from her two-year-old daughter, Shai. “I have been dealing with some health stuff, so I’m kind of just happy to be out here right now,” Osaka said. “It’s not serious, but I’m not operating at the per cent that I want to be operating at, which kind of sucks, because I had a really good offseason, so I thought I was going to do really well here.”

Osaka, who advanced to the US Open semifinals last year, said she thinks she’s nearly finished with the illness. “I’m at the tail end of that but still not amazing,” she said. “I’m just trying to get better every day. I had a cough, a runny nose, like all that nasty stuff, so hopefully it goes away before the Australian Open.” The first Grand Slam event of the year starts in Melbourne on Jan. 18. Stefanos Tsitsipas wrapped up victory in the match for Greece over Japan with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Shintaro Mochizuki.