Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka suffered a third-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon on Friday.
Osaka won the first set and was on the verge of a first fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon.
However, she fell to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat as she is yet to reach the second week of a Grand Slam since returning to the tour for the 2024 season, following the birth of her daughter, Shai.
Since returning to the tour, Osaka has struggled to hit the heights of the early part of her career, when she won four Grand Slams and became the world No. 1.
She has been in better form of late, winning a WTA 125 tournament (one rung below the main tour) in France in May.
Also, she re-entered the world’s top 50 and this week matched her best performance at a major since the start of her comeback.
Six of her last seven defeats have been in three sets, and all six of them have featured a 6-4, 7-5, or 7-6 scoreline in the final set.
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Another Grand Slam winner who suffered a shock exit at this year’s Wimbledon is American star Coco Gauff.
The French Open champion and world number two was ousted by Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the first round via a 7-6, 6-1 scoreline.
Wimbledon Shocks
Others who also have been bundled out of this year’s Wimbledon tournament are Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, and third seed in the men’s singles Alexander Zverev.
Seventh seed and 2024 semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti lost to qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in four sets.
