This is a situation that she could never have imagined and that she never intended, wrote Naomi Osaka. And further: “I think it is now for the best for the tournament, the other players and my own well-being that I withdraw so that everyone can concentrate on the current tennis events in Paris again.”
Shortly before the start of the French Open, Osaka announced via Instagram that she did not want to talk to the media in Paris. The reason given by the number two in the world was that journalists would not consider the mental health of athletes.
Tennis star Osaka has already received a heavy fine
After her first round win against the Romanian Patricia Maria Tig, Osaka did not appear for the mandatory press conference on Sunday, as announced. She was then fined $ 15,000 by the organizers of the French Open.
In the event that the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner would have boycotted the media in the further course of the clay court event, the organizers of the four Grand Slam events had threatened with further, much tougher sanctions. Both an exclusion from the French Open and a suspension for subsequent Grand Slam tournaments had been promised. Osaka now anticipated these possible penalties by withdrawing.
