Naomi Osaka Quits French Open Amid Press Boycott Controversy
Naomi Osaka has withdrawn her participation from the French Open. She announced her decision on Monday through Twitter in the middle of media chaos over her action of boycotting the post-match press meet. The authority has fined her worth $15,000 due to this boycott. Later Naomi released a longer statement.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 31, 2021
She said that this is not something she was expecting when she posted prior to the French tournament. According to her, it is best for all, such as authority, tennis players, and the championship, that she withdraws her name. She intends to ensure that the sole focus for everyone would be tennis itself. Naomi never intended to be the distraction and accepts that her post did not come to the public at the right time. However, she stood her stance on the post.
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Naomi suffers from depression and social anxiety
The player added that she realizes the importance of mental health, and her address to it was in a casual approach. Naomi went through severe depression from the time of the US Open in 2018. That time was hard for me to cope with. She is an introverted person and did not socialize during that time. The tennis player would always wear headphones to divert herself from social anxiety.
The world tennis press showed kindness to her all along that she accepted and apologized to journalists, but she never meant to hurt them by boycotting them. She decided so because she got anxious before any public address in front of the media. It does not come to her naturally—constant nervousness and stress associated with such press meet to provide almost perfect answers to their questions.
Naomi Osaka prioritized her mental health over press meet
Naomi decided to prioritize her mental care from this time in Paris. That is why she exercised boycott over the press. Naomi felt extremely vulnerable in Paris and felt anxiety waves before the press meet. According to her, she announced her boycott pre-emptively as some parts of the rules are not as modern as they should have been.
There was a private apology letter from her to the authority of the tournament. She also offered to talk with them following the tournament. She wants a break from playing right now. There will be the right time in the future to discuss the things regarding press, rules, playoffs but not in the present time. She asked everyone to be safe and conveyed her love, promising to appear soon.
Osaka made quite a stir last week by releasing her announcement to skip the French Open post-match press gathering. She stated that due to mental health hazards, she had taken this action. The organizer of the French Open charged her a fine as she breached the contract and failed to meet the media obligation. Naomi Osaka won four grand slams tweeted about the penalty after she had the victory against 63rd ranked Patricia Maria Tig with 6-4, 7-6(4).
The four authorities of grand slams jointly released a statement saying that they could default her as she broke the regulations, which is the ultimate code of conduct.