Naomi Osaka Pulls Out of WTA Semi-Final After Body Gets 'Shock' Over Playing Tennis

Australian Open champion, and women’s sports’ highest-paid athlete ever Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Melbourne WTA tournament, considered a run-up to the Open starting January 17 in Melbourne. The Japanese tennis superstar, with a difficult year behind her, entered the semi-finals looking like her mojo was coming back. Osaka left the US Open last September and took four months off from the game of tennis.

“Sad to withdraw due to injury from my match today, my body got a shock from playing back-to-back intense matches after the break I took,” Osaka said on Twitter. “I’ll try to rest up and I’ll see you soon!”

Osaka’s statement continued:

“I had a lot of fun playing here in Melbourne. Unfortunately, I have an abdominal injury which I need to rest and prepare for the Australian Open.”

Related: Naomi Osaka becomes highest-paid female athlete in history after earning $37 million last year CNN

How Naomi Osaka Became Everyone’s Favorite Spokesmodel New York Times

Read all the details about Naomi’s return to tennis.

Naomi Osaka Wins Quarter Final on Friday | Advances to Saturday Semi-Final with Kudermetova

Update 1/7/21: Naomi Osaka beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic on Friday, advancing to Saturday’s semi-final against Russia’s Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova.

Naomi Osaka returned to competitive tennis this week, first defeating Alizé Cornet in the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set. Osaka decisively defeated Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday advancing to Friday’s quarter finals, facing Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.

Melbourne 1 is a prelude to the Australian Open, a grand slam event and is currently scheduled for Monday, January 17 to Sunday, January 30.

Playing Cornet, Naomi Osaka had 57 unforced errors, eight of them double faults. Her Thursday 6-1, 6-1 win over Zanevska was decisive.

"I only really have one major goal this year, and it's completely unrelated to results and stuff like that," Osaka said post-match.

"For me, I just want to feel like every time I step on the court I'm having fun. I can walk off the court knowing that even if I lost, I tried as hard as I could."

"I actually really thought I wasn't going to play for most of this year," Osaka told reporters. "I'm really happy with myself that I love the sport that much because I literally said that I was unsure when I was going to play after the US Open and I'm here right now.

"In the break, I was feeling like I didn't know what my future was going to be. I'm pretty sure a lot of people can relate to that. Of course, you never know what the future holds, but it was definitely an indecisive time.

"But I'm really happy to be sitting here right now."

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka further reflected on her own personality and conditioning and her tendency to internalize everything that happens to her.

Over the holidays, AOC watched Osaka’s Netflix documentary series, where this tendency is very obvious. We note that looking at Naomi Osaka’s website just now, we were impacted about how powerful and confident it is. It may be singularly the boldest self-presentation ever — which makes the complexities of Naomi’s psychology of greater interest. She is such an outstanding role model for young women worldwide, and AOC wishes Naomi well in 2022.

Carolyn Murphy's 'Homegrown' Upcycled Collab with Mother Denim Benefits Sierra Club

Carolyn Murphy's 'Homegrown' Upcycled Collab with Mother Denim Benefits Sierra Club AOC Fashion

When Carolyn Murphy was a little girl, she had a sewing machine. “I used to take logos off of old clothes and transfer them onto other garments,” Murphy explained about crafting her own line of beautiful clothes with Mother’s co-founders Lela Becker and Tim Kaeding. “I was fascinated by creating something new using pieces I already owned and loved.”

AOC completely missed the launch of Murphy’s 14-piece collection at the end of October. You can find it t Net-Sustain, in-stock, because we checked. Murphy’s upcycled collection is called Homegrown, and it debuted at an intimate luncheon with Net-a-Porter.

The 14-piece collection is entirely made from unwanted rags and Mother denim stock that Murphy reimagined with the design duo. It’s an extension of 60% Mother. a collection made from pre- and postconsumer waste, and recognizes vintage Americana through the use of deconstructed and reimagined quilts, bandanas and denim designed and made in L.A.

“One of the coolest things about the collection, since it’s made from recycled and reused deadstock or products that have been damaged, is that every single piece is unique,” Kaeding explained.

The North Face X Gucci Quietly Drops Big a Second Time to Lead 2022 Collaborations

The North Face X Gucci Quietly Drops Big a Second Time to Lead 2022 Collaborations AOC Fashion

The North Face X Gucci doubles down on a BIG New Year’s launch of chapter two of their collaboration. We say that emphasis has shifted from fashion runway camp patterns and global tribe explorers with good hearts in last year’s January debut to closeup images of practical technical gear that means business for 2022.

As more than one blogger has pointed out, no one is seriously mountaineering Tibet’s Everest North Face or Cho Oyu in these clothes. But there is a serious performance attitude in the pieces and accessories that creates a different energy and seriousness from the first drop. AOC loves the closeup shots, and we are always suckers for flowers.

Kudos to French photography duo, twin brothers Jalan and Jibril Durimel, [IG], who shot the campaign in Iceland. Born in Paris to parents from the island of Guadeloupe, at the age of 4 they moved to Miami where they first jumped into the waters of American culture.

Zinnia Kumar Covers Vogue India January 2022 'Reset' Issue by Daniel Jackson

Zinnia Kumar Covers Vogue India January 2022 'Reset' Issue by Daniel Jackson AOC Fashion

In the Vogue India cover story, Akanksha Kamath describes Zinnia Kumar as “the perfect muse for British-Indian designer Supriya Lele's brave clothes that inhabit a delicate view of a new India.” Delicate is an understatement for the “sinuous sheer pieces that wrap across the body, revealing hip, bone, curve and crevice. . . “

In choosing the “slinkiest” pieces from her LFW spring/summer 2022 collection, Lele acknowledges their sensuality and focus on the female gaze, but the designer emphasizes that Zinnia Kumar “embodies the essence of what I am trying to say with my brand.”

The designer returns to India twice a year to work with new creatives each time. “What’s happening in India right now is so exciting. There are creatives and artists breaking rules and doing incredible things that aren’t on the global map just yet,” she says, having wrapped up a collaboration with Delhi- based photographer Sohrab Hura for her spring/summer 2022 campaign.

'When No One Is Watching' by Palma Llopis and Lotte Thor for Schön! Magazine Online

'When No One Is Watching' by Palma Llopis and Lotte Thor for Schön! Magazine Online AOC Fashion

Model Amra Novak appears in ‘When No One Is Watching’, an online editorial for Schön! Magazine December 2021, lensed by photographers duo Palma Llopis [IG] and Lotte Thor [IG]. Olive Duran styles Novak in Balenciaga, Kenzo, Tom Ford and more./ Hair and make up by Naomzz

Schön! asks a question that AOC struggles with: What do we do when no one sees us? Do we allow ourselves to satisfy our darkest and most unspeakable desires? What if someone turns on the light and catches us? We all have a strictly private and intimate dark side, so there’s no shame in that..

Tish Weinstock and Tom Guinness at Home for Matches Magazine December 2021

Tish Weinstock and Tom Guinness at Home for Matches Magazine December 2021 AOC Fashion

James Webb Travels A Million Miles Into Deep Space, Fired Up by Jean Baptiste-Mondino for Numero

Models Lydia Kloos and Dija Kallon turned their February 2021 fashion eyes into the FUTUR, anticipating the 10-months away, Christmas Day 2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Praying that she flies through the universe at epic speed as planned, Lydia and Dija were styled by Babeth Dijan in graphic, bold-colors loves from Europe’s biggest fashion houses for ‘Galactic’.

As we review our photographer archives for missing stories that AOC didn’t post in 2021 [Yes, AOC does do that], we couldn’t resist ‘Galactic’, lensed by Jean Baptiste-Mondino.

FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE REQUIRED

The fashion and beauty industries have an obsession with fixing women by making us flawless Buttons can be reattached, a broken-open seam re-stitched; a pimple zapped into inert skin rubble in an hour.

Not so for the James Webb where NOTHING — not the smallest issue that would require a human intervention like fixes on the international space station require all the time — can go wrong.

Having accidentally fallen in love with this year-old Numero editorial, we take this old-news fashion moment to share the great now news that James Webb left Earth on Christmas Day, flying atop an Ariane 5 rocket that lifted off from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Led by the Americans, the James Webb is an international collective effort of many nations to understand our origins. AOC is obsessed forever about the origin of our universe and the rise of humanity out of Africa and across our vast and endangered planet Earth.

NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED

NASA’s long-delayed $10 billion flying machine is now on its way, carrying the hopes and dreams of countless astronomers, astrophysicists, planetary scientists and ordinary people like Anne Enke into the final frontier.

Now we have our first fabulous good news about James Webb. On Sunday, while millions of humans were napping away Saturday’s Christmas Dinner, she successfully deployed a critical antenna in her first post-launch must-do.

The space telescope unfolded what scientists call a “gimbaled antenna assembly” that carries the high-rate data dish responsible for beaming Webb's observations of the early universe back to Earth.

"This antenna will be used to send at least 28.6 Gbytes of science data down from the observatory, twice a day," NASA officials wrote in a mission update. "The team has now released and tested the motion of the antenna assembly — the entire process took about one hour."

The James Webb is traveling back in time, set to broadcast information about “the universe's first stars and galaxies, sniff the atmospheres of nearby alien planets and perform a variety of other high-profile, high-impact work over the next five to 10 years, if all goes according to plan. “

FLAWLESS FOR REAL

Webb cannot get a pimple on her gorgeous face. Not a hair can fly out of place — or the entire mission collapses.

Unlike Kim K’s beloved SKIMS or Estee Lauder’s ‘Night Repair’, James Webb cannot be fixed with manual human intervention. She has been created by humans and a whole lot of technology — but now James Webb must fly and function flawlessly on her own, until she dies.

I beg you fashion and beauty people. Could we please stop trying to make women flawless and reserve the word ‘flawless’ for human achievements like the James Web Space Telescope? Not EVERY ultimate human achievement word needs to be on a bottle or buried in Spandex. [No offense intended, Kim. I love your SKIMS and don’t think you use that word ‘Flaws’, but I will check.]

Goddess speed, James Webb. AOC truly hopes that you succeed in telling us unimaginable scientific facts about our universe. Half the American people will say you are fake news, but we will broadcast every divine detail about your discoveries.

Sending love to an incredible flying machine carrying decades of human hopes onboard and total awe over what you might teach us about ourselves. Buckle up everyone. This could be the most amazing ride ever on planet Earth. And SHE needs a lot of help right now. ~ Anne

Related: Learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope

Naomi Osaka Set to Warmup in Melbourne Summer Set, Play Australian Open

Naomi Osaka via personal IG for Tag Heurer.

Naomi Osaka, currently ranked No. 13 in WTA rankings, is on track to return to playing professional tennis. The four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka returned to the practice court in early November, after leaving the US Open with the announcement that she needed to step away from the game. Osaka also took a two-month mental health break before the Open.

As of Christmas, Naomi Osaka is scheduled to return to professional tennis at the Melbourne Summer Set, the first week of 2022. Melbourne is a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open, playing January 17-30. Osaka defeated Jennifer Brady in the 2021 Open — her second Melbourne trophy — and is a narrow favorite to win in January 2022, with Brady ranked No. 2.

Emma Raducanu, bringing momentum from her shocking US Open victory in September, is ranked third to win in Australia. Tennis great Serena Williams has confirmed that she will not be playing in Australia.

"While this is never an easy decision to make, I am not where I need to be physically to compete," Williams said in confirming her not playing the Open. "Melbourne is one of my favorite cities to visit and I look forward to playing at the AO every year. I will miss seeing the fans, but am excited to return and compete at my highest level."

The Australian Open 2021 was delayed due to COVID and eventually took place February 8 to 21. Omicron has exploded in Australia in recent days — although Delta continues to hospitalize more Aussies. Almost 20 percent of Christmas Eve flights were cancelled today, writes Reuters.