Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Wimbledon Tournament
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka will not play in the Wimbledon tournament this month but will compete at the Tokyo Olympics, her agent said.
Osaka’s agent, Stuart Duguid, confirmed that she would skip the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament that begins on June 28, but would play at the Olympics scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8.
“Naomi won’t be playing Wimbledon this year. She is taking some personal time with friends and family. She will be ready for the Olympics and is excited to play in front of her home fans,” Duguid said.
Osaka withdrew from the French Open last month before the second round after being fined $15,000 for skipping mandatory post-match news conferences.
When she withdrew in Paris, Osaka said that she would “take some time away from the court.”
She explained that she had experienced “long bouts of depression” since winning the 2018 US Open and often had “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking to the news media.
Before the French Open, she had announced on social media that she would not speak with the media during the tournament to protect her mental health and to avoid questions that might make her doubt herself.
The Grand Slam rules require players to give a post-match news conference if requested and when Osaka skipped her news conference after her first-round victory, she was fined by tournament officials and warned of further fines and potential expulsion from the tournament if she continued to break the rules. She chose to withdraw instead.
“I never wanted to be a distraction, and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer,” Osaka wrote in her announcement.
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.
