Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open after being embarrassed by the media. The reigning Australian Open winner had intended to go to Paris to defend her title against Jelena Ostapenko, but after the Australian Open media were given an all-access pass to Osaka’s Wuhan training camp she made the unusual decision of withdrawing from the tournament. The decision was surprising given the fact that the world No. 1 had been dominating the tournament and had lost only three games in six matches. She confirmed the decision in an Instagram post, writing: “I never thought that I would say this in my career but for each and every person who was blaming me, for each and every person who was saying mean things about me, for each
Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open after being forced to ‘stay in the shadows’ by the French media. Osaka’s withdrawal comes after the French Tennis Federation and the French Open threatened to withdraw the Osaka’s entry into the tournament if her name was not removed from the tournament’s official team list. The threat came after French media published reports that Osaka had received death threats from French writer Sylvain Wiltord, who accused her of stealing a hairband and…
Osaka declined to participate (Photo: Corbis via Getty Images) Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Open French tennis championships due to a lingering dispute over her media ban. Osaka, the number two in the Japanese world, did not attend any press conferences during the tournament. For this she was fined £10,574 and threatened with disqualification from the tournament and a ban from other major tournaments. But now she has taken matters into her own hands and refused to participate as a caregiver. She admitted to feeling vulnerable, anxious and struggling with bouts of depression after the final of the 2018 US Open – where her victory over Serena Williams was overshadowed by her opponent’s altercation with referee Carlos Ramos – and will now retire from tennis for a while. she wrote in a statement on social media: Hello all, this is not the situation I had in mind when I asked the question a few days ago. I think at the moment it’s better for the tournament, the other players and my wellbeing if I take some time off so everyone can come back and concentrate on tennis in Paris. It was never my intention to be a distraction, and I admit that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. On the other hand, I would never trivialize mental health or use the term frivolously. The truth is, I suffered from depression for a long time after the 2018 US Open and had a very hard time dealing with it. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m introverted, and anyone who has seen me at tournaments will have noticed that I often wear headphones because it relieves my social anxiety. While the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I apologize, especially to any kind reporters I may have offended), I am not a born speaker and get big waves of excitement before I address the world media. I am very nervous and find it stressful to keep trying to participate in the conversation and give the best possible answers. Here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious, so I decided to take care of myself and not go to the press conferences. I announced this in advance because I think the rules are outdated in some ways and I wanted to draw attention to this. I wrote a private letter to the tournament apologizing and saying I would love to talk to them after the tournament because the slams are intense. I’m going to take some time off the field now, but when the time comes, I really want to discuss with the tour how we can improve things for the players, the press and the fans. Anyway, I hope you are healthy and safe, I love you and see you when I see you. Osaka was to play Romanian Anna Bogdan in the second round, but her opponent advanced to the third round. a,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,large,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,em,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,headerhtml,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,object,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{margin:0;padding:0;font:inherit;font-size:100%;vertical-align:baseline;border:0}h1,h2,h3{font-weight:400}article,aside,details,figcaption,figure,footer,header,menu,nav,section{display:block}body{line-height:1}ol,ul{list-style:none}blockquote,q{quotes:none}blockquote:after,blockquote:before,q:after,q:before{content:;content:none}table{border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0} img{width:100%;height:auto;}
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