Osaka withdraws from Wuhan Open citing viral illness

Hmmm. Probably tactical. She wants to of course keep the wave of sudden Japanese support (and the money that goes with it) as long as possible. But she'll be all to aware of the fickleness of that support.

By claiming illness she can explain away her recent disappointing loss in front of the "home" crowd.

Get better soon and go far in the next tournament. Us JT mimions will be champing at the bit to discuss the finer points of all your matches. OK, not fooling anyone, we will spend about 90% of the time talking about your passport predicament and worrying pointlessly if you will fall off the face of the planet on your 22nd birthday, which just happens to be shortly before the Tokyo Olympics. Thank you for all you do to keep the lights on here at JT.

Seriously, the slippery slope for Japanese athletes is more so for her given that she has lived in the US since infancy, and is only half Japanese.

Shes been awarded public honorary Japanese standing by a public desperate for success on the world sports stage, but make no mistake, if and when they feel she isn't making it she'll be dismissed with "she isn't really Japanese anyway."

Get well soon Naomichan, and enjoy the rest after your 10-match winning streak including the US Open vs Serena!

The crowd at JT is fickle, fortunately she will never read it anyways :)

All that travel and hoopla commitments the last couple weeks couldn't have been good for one's health whose body is not yet used to it

fxgai: "The crowd at JT is fickle, fortunately she will never read it anyways :)"

Not the JT crowd that's fickle, my friend. Those of us who supported her while you were saying again and again it was Nishikori's year still support her, we are just pointing out that already she is losing Japanese "fans" (same "fans" who said she was not Japanese until a few weeks ago). The media is fickle, for sure. The bandwagon fans, absolutely. Her ACTUAL supporters, no. I notice you had to parade out her record for yourself, though.

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I think you should only speak for yourself, because you'd embarass whoever you think you might be speaking on behalf of.

she is losing Japanese "fans" (same "fans" who said she was not Japanese until a few weeks ago). The media is fickle, for sure. 

The only place I have personally seen people question whether she is "Japanese" or not is here at JT.

The Japanese media has been straight up and down on the matter, covering not only her Japanese roots but also covering the reaction of folks over in Haiti to it.

But I know you have a chip on your sholder for some reason about Japanese media, so go ahead and have a rant about it again.

The bandwagon fans, absolutely. Her ACTUAL supporters, no.

The former being you as the prime example (still waiting for Nishikori to win a single Grand Slam, although you predicted he'd win many ahead of his US Open final appearance in 2014!).

The latter being folks like me - "the next Serena" I called her sometime last year I think it was, and defeating Serena was a nice way for her to put an exclamation point on that for me :)