Why did Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka withdraw from the Chinese tournament?
Both Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Wuhan Open, the final WTA 1000 tournament of the season, after an exhausting stretch at the China Open in Beijing, with Gauff citing physical fatigue and a deeply draining week that included a wave of racial abuse online.
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What the Wuhan Open is
The Wuhan Open is a WTA 1000 event, meaning it sits just below the four Grand Slam majors in prestige and ranking points. It is played on hardcourt and is the last tournament of that tier before the season ends. Both players were notable absentees from a draw that was already thinned by withdrawals from World No. 1 Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova as well.
Coco Gauff: fatigue and a brutal few days
Gauff exited the China Open in the last 16, suffering a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Belgium's Elise Mertens after what she described as a draining few days. Hours later, she pulled out of Wuhan.
The exhaustion wasn't purely physical. Gauff had revealed after her victory over Chinese 16-year-old Sun Xinran that she had received an "insane" amount of racial abuse on social media following a match in which a replayed point sparked an online backlash. She had stopped play during a key point in the first set, raising her hand to complain about a flickering advertising board as Sun was about to put away a winner. After a video review, the umpire ordered the point to be replayed, and Gauff won it. That call triggered a flood of racist messages.
The WTA told Reuters: "There is no place for racism, discrimination, or abuse in tennis." The organization said it was "appalled by the racial abuse directed at Coco Gauff" and was in contact with her to offer full support.
Gauff said in a statement:
"I'm disappointed to withdraw from Wuhan, especially as the defending champion. I always love playing there. After a long year, my body needs some time to rest and recover. I look forward to returning next year."
Osaka: beaten in Beijing, done for the swing
Osaka also withdrew from Wuhan after losing a three-set thriller to Karolina Muchova, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6, in a match that lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes. Osaka had led by a break in both the first and third sets before Muchova rallied to close it out on her ninth match point. After that battle, skipping Wuhan was the sensible call.
Home favorite Zheng Qinwen, still in the Beijing draw, replaced Osaka in the Wuhan field.
Osaka had been playing her first full Asian swing since returning to the tour after the birth of her daughter, so the fatigue runs deeper than just one week of tennis.
Follow-ups
I understand racial harassment is horrible, but that shouldn't be used as a reason not to play well. The people feeling threatened used race to stress her. Winning is the best revenge. But I understand it's easier said than done. They are both awesome players.
The instinct is right, winning is the sharpest answer to hate, but the mental load that Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka were carrying at the China Open was not just noise to tune out; it was a sustained psychological assault on top of an already brutal schedule.
What "just play through it" asks of a person
Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old American world No. 3 and reigning US Open champion, described the volume of racial abuse she received after her match against 16-year-old Sun Xinran as "insane." This wasn't a handful of cruel comments. It was a coordinated wave, timed to a moment when a replayed point had already inflamed a hostile crowd. The match was stressful. The aftermath, on social media, was its own separate event.
The "winning is the best revenge" frame is true over a career. Serena Williams lived it for two decades. But it assumes the player can compartmentalize in the middle of a tournament, in a country where the abuse is in a language they understand less, from an audience that has decided they are the villain. That is a specific and heavy ask, and it sits on top of weeks of hard travel, matches, and recovery.
Osaka brings a different kind of history
Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion, has been public about the fact that mental health pressure has ended her seasons before. Her withdrawal from Wuhan follows the same pattern: she knows her own warning signs, and she acts on them. That self-knowledge is not weakness. It is the reason she is still competing at the highest level at all.
The longer view
Both players have the talent and the records to back up exactly what you said: they are both awesome players. Gauff has already proven she can absorb pressure and win on the biggest stages. Osaka has four majors. The people sending abuse online will not be remembered. These two will.
The harder truth is that no athlete, no matter how mentally strong, runs on unlimited reserves. Pulling out of Wuhan was a decision to protect what matters most, the rest of the season and the years beyond it, rather than grind through one more hardcourt week on fumes. That is not avoiding the fight. That is choosing which fights are worth the cost.
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