{"id":78658,"date":"2021-05-31T18:17:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T18:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=78658"},"modified":"2021-05-31T18:58:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T18:58:16","slug":"osakas-bombshell-roland-garros-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=78658","title":{"rendered":"Osaka&#039;s bombshell Roland Garros withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from Roland Garros the day after being fined for skipping media duties, the Japanese megastar announced on Twitter, while revealing significant problems with depression.<\/p>\n<p>Osaka won her round one match against Patricia Tig on the opening day of the French Open but <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/tennis\/french-open-roland-garros-news-naomi-osaka-fined-threatened-with-default-for-skipping-media-conference\/ec1d409d-84e3-4b2c-a94f-3b06588dddfd\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"went through with her announced press boycott\">went through with her announced press boycott<\/a>. It earned her a $US15,000 fine and the threat of default from the Grand Slam event.<\/p>\n<p>Osaka on Tuesday (AEST) said that she would instead pull out of the event, citing mental health concerns; as she did when first announcing her controversial media stance.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;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,&quot; Osaka wrote.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The only place tennis fans can watch every Roland Garros match is on Stan Sport.<\/em><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/sport\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Start a seven day free trial of the Stan Sport add-on now!\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>Start a seven-day free trial of the Stan Sport add-on now!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"6dccb011-607b-412d-a004-7e5e806c3736\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/6dccb011-607b-412d-a004-7e5e806c3736\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>She said that she has &quot;suffered long bouts of depression&quot; since the 2018 US Open, which she won by beating Serena Williams in an explosive final. Osaka ended the match in tears despite her first major victory.<\/p>\n<p>She has since won three more Grand Slams and been a world No.1, yet said that she had done so amid serious anxiety issues. Osaka could have reclaimed the top ranking in Paris, had she made the final and Australia&#x27;s Ashleigh Barty lost before the semis.<\/p>\n<p>Osaka said that she would instead be focusing on her mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;This isn&#x27;t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago,&quot; Osaka said, referring to her press boycott announcement.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly, I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and have had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows I&#x27;m introverted and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I&#x27;m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"827d5f9c-764f-4a01-8bde-3a7bbbef6012\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/827d5f9c-764f-4a01-8bde-3a7bbbef6012\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Osaka did a brief on-court interview after her opening match at Roland Garros but declined her press conference. She elaborated on her relationship with the media in her Twitter announcement.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologise especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before speaking to the world&#x27;s media,&quot; Osaka said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I get really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can. So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious, so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;I announced it preemptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that. I wrote privately to the tournament apologising and saying that I would be more than happy to speak with them after the tournament as the Slams are intense.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;m gonna take some time away from the court now but when the time is right, I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Anyways, hope you all are doing well and staying safe. Love you guys, I&#x27;ll see you when I see you.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/login?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\" title=\"clicking here!\"><em><strong>clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from Roland Garros the day after being fined for skipping media duties, the Japanese megastar announced on Twitter, while revealing significant <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=78658\" title=\"Osaka&#039;s bombshell Roland Garros withdrawal\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78658"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78662,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78658\/revisions\/78662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}