'It's nagging thing, never really gone': Osaka on Achilles injury after US Open round 3 win

New York: Two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka spoke about a "nagging" Achilles injury she has been carrying "since the grass season" after her round 3 win over Elise Mertens at the US Open 2026.

13th seed Osaka was tested and pushed to the limits against the 23rd seed Belgian at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, as she recovered from 2-4 in the third set and a break down in the deciding set, and needed a medical timeout.

"I wouldn’t say it’s a big injury, but it’s been something that I’ve been dealing with since grass season," Osaka said after her win over Mertens, as quoted by ATP. "It's always this nagging thing, and it's never really gone away."

She staged a comeback in the third set, holding her serve at 3-4 before calling the medical timeout. The attention turned to her left calf during the brief break as the physio attended to the Japanese.

"Honestly, I really hate calling physios during matches, because, aside from the obvious, I feel like it just kind of makes the opponent think you're injured, and then it's this whole psychological thing," Osaka said.

Osaka won the next three games and clinched the match on her fourth match point, reaching the pre-quarters. "I mean, she rubbed Tiger Balm on it, and I guess that helped."

"In the third set, I was just being really overly critical, and then it got to a point where I was just like, 'OK, just fight for everything,'" Osaka explained. "See if (Elise) is going to close it out on her terms. Like, I started pushing a lot, because I wanted to see if she had the guts to hit winners and go for it," she added.

Osaka sustained an injury to her right foot, which ended her run at Bad Homburg when she was forced to retire from the final against Karolina Muchova in June. She will now face current Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the pre-quarters and has less than 48 hours to recover from her injury.

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