Naomi Osaka Crashes Out of Wimbledon in Third Round After Tough Loss

Naomi Osaka is out of Wimbledon once again after losing in the third round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Friday. The match ended 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in favour of Pavlyuchenkova, despite Osaka starting strong.

Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, was clearly disappointed after the match.

“I’m upset because I actually thought I could play well here and go far,” she said. “I wanted to do better than before, and I really tried hard.”

When asked what positives she could take from her grass court season, she replied honestly:

“I’m just going to be negative today. I’m sorry. I have nothing positive to say about myself. That’s something I’m trying to work on.”

Osaka, now ranked 50th, has won all her Grand Slams on hard courts — twice at the U.S. Open and twice at the Australian Open. Her best result at Wimbledon remains reaching the third round in 2017 and 2018. She missed the tournament in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Earlier this week, Osaka said she had feared playing on grass for years because of a knee injury from slipping on the surface nearly ten years ago. But this year, she said she was feeling more confident and moving better.

“With age, fear kind of took over,” she explained. “But now I’m trying to move past it and improve on grass. I think it’s getting better.”

Still, in the final set on Friday, the match turned quickly. With the score tied at 4-4, Pavlyuchenkova won eight of the next ten points. She held her serve without dropping a point, then broke Osaka’s serve in the last game, helped by three forehand errors from the Japanese star.

Pavlyuchenkova, who turned 34 on Thursday, told the crowd:

“Most of you were cheering for Naomi, but that’s OK. I’m mentally tough. It didn’t bother me — it gave me energy.”

The Russian, ranked 53rd, was a French Open finalist in 2021. Her win on Friday puts her into the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time in nine years.

As for Osaka, she’s now turning her attention to the hard court season in North America, which leads up to the U.S. Open starting August 24.

“I’m glad to be done with this,” she said. “Now I’m looking forward to the hard courts.”