Naomi Osaka’s decision to protect her mental health is well documented. Osaka, in a story published today in Time Magazine, opened up about her recent experiences and called for change to protect the mental health of all athletes.
“In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow,” wrote Osaka.
This past May, Osaka announced that she would not do any press around the French Open in order to protect her mental health. So after she defeated Romania’s Patricia Maria Țig, 6-4,7-6 in the first round, she skipped the post-match press conference.
While most fans cheered her decision, Roland-Garros officials lashed out.
They fined her $15,000 and issued a statement which in part read:
“We have advised Naomi Osaka that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences.“
Instead of bowing to the pressure, Osaka tweeted that she was withdrawing from the tournament.
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