Naomi Osaka Withdraws From French Open
By Melvin Tarlue
Japanese tennis player, Naomi Osaka, has withdrawn from the French Open.
Ms. Osaka announced her withdrawal from the tournament in a statement issued via her verified Twitter account on Monday, May 31, 2021.
In the statement sighted by DGN Online, she explained that the decision to withdraw wasn’t something that she imagined.
According to her, “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.”
She said “I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer.”
What did she say?
Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion had indicated that she would not attend press conference during the French Open, citing mental health reasons for her refusal to speak to the press.
She had revealed that she suffered “long bouts of depression since the 2018 US Open”.
But she was fined $15,000 by Grand Slam organisers for failing to attend a news conference following her first-round win.
Meanwhile, in her statement, she argued that “the truth is I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.”
Below is her statement
By Melvin Tarlue