Osaka acknowledges feeling discomfort in her Achilles tendon

Naomi Osaka managed to avoid the abyss of defeat against Elise Mertens in the third round of the US Open 2026, drawing on her champion's intangibles and experience to win 6-3 3-6 7-5 and give herself the chance to face Elena Rybakina in the round of 16. It will be a very promising match between two women who are both struggling with physical discomfort in the same part of the body: the Achilles tendon.

"I wouldn't say it's a serious injury. I would say it's a persistent issue I've had since the grass season. I don't know why it hasn't gone away. I feel like I've done a lot of things to try to improve it, but maybe the rest time wasn't enough."

"I'm not sure what the reason is, but the time I was out for medical reasons was precisely to address that. They massaged my leg and things like that, so it seemed to help, and they also gave me Tylenol."

Naomi Osaka defines herself as a trafficker

What is clear is that Naomi Osaka is going to give her all to stay alive in a US Open 2026 that she came into with confidence and a lot of excitement to do something significant. The way she faced the tough moments in her match against Mertens highlights her competitive skills.

"In the third set, I was being too critical, and then there came a point where I thought, ‘Okay, I'm going to fight for everything. Let's see if she's going to close the match her way.’ I started to apply a lot of pressure because I wanted to see if she had the courage to hit winning shots and go for it all. Luckily for me, she made a couple of errors."

"It's not a big change. I think that when I was younger, I felt like I was a ‘trafficker’ [a player who focuses on returning many balls and extending rallies]. It’s not a negative thing. Being able to return many balls and force the opponent to hit once more is a skill and a talent, I believe. Especially in such a closely contested match as this, I think it helped me win a couple of very important points," concluded the Japanese player.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Osaka reconoce sentir molestias en el tendón de Aquiles