Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open: 'Shocking and sad' - Alex Corretja, Mats Wilander, Mischa Zverev
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Updated 31/05/2021 at 19:46 GMT
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka has released a statement saying that she has withdrawn from the 2021 French Open after she was threatened with expulsion. The world number two caused a storm on the eve of the tournament when revealing she would not attend any press conferences at Roland Garros on account of mental health concerns.
Naomi Osaka
Image credit: Getty Images
Naomi Osaka has released a statement saying that she has withdrawn from the 2021 French Open and Eurosport's Alex Corretja, Mats Wilander and Mischa Zverev say it is both "shocking" and "sad".
The world number two caused a storm on the eve of the tournament when revealing she would not attend any press conferences at Roland Garros on account of mental health concerns.
As a result, following her win over Patricia Tig in the first round on Sunday, Osaka was true to her word as she failed to attend the post-match press conference.
In what is a huge shock, she has now announced that she has withdrawn from the tournament ahead of her second-round match.
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'We wish you all the best' - Zverev, Wilander react to Osaka withdrawal
The Japanese star released the statement in the form of a social media post in which she explained the reasons for her withdrawal - and for her decision to avoid press conferences in the first place.
“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," Osaka said.
"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.
"The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that."
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'Happy Mother's Day!' - Osaka gives on-court interview after opening win
Europsort expert Corretja has given his views on the situation and expressed his sadness at Osaka's withdrawal.
"This is absolutely shocking. It's such sad news to hear Naomi has pulled out because of this situation," Corretja told Eurosport.
This does show on top of everything that we are human beings, people only really see players on court hitting a ball but sometimes they don't realise what is going on inside the heads of the players, travelling around the world, playing and dealing with pressure - all of this kind of stuff.
"This is something to talk about and to realise this is huge. I feel sorry for her. Of course, I would have loved to see her playing.
"Probably the way she dealt with the situation went out of her hands and that's when it exploded. These days with social media you can feel like the whole world is talking about you and that will make her feel more stressed than usual.
"It's something to solve so let's see how she deals with the press in future and whether it will bring some clear ideas.
"Pulling out of the tournament is going 10 steps further. If she did that then she must be feeling very, very bad and it's a shame. That's the situation. It's honest from her but it's something I've never seen before during a tournament."
Wilander added: "We are wishing her the best of luck. It’s a situation that a lot of people are in because she is famous she can speak about it and hopefully she can come back and feel better and inspire other people from mental health issues.
"Good luck Naomi and we wish you all the best and hopefully other players and athletes will learn from this."
Zverev said: "I am very surprised. You see those superstars out there – how many thousands of players have done press conferences in the past but not every player is the same, not every human being is the same.
"Everybody has different emotional feelings and conditions. She is a superstar champion, a Grand Slam champion. That’s the result – she decided to take a step back and that she needs some time off."
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Highlights: Osaka begins French Open with win over Tig
The four Grand Slams - Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open - had released a joint statement reminding Osaka of her obligations and warning her that she faced being expelled from the tournament.
The statement read: "Naomi Osaka announced last Wednesday on social media that she would not participate in the mandatory media interviews at Roland-Garros 2021. Following this announcement, the Roland-Garros teams asked her to reconsider her position and tried unsuccessfully to speak with her to check on her well-being, understand the specifics of her issue and what might be done to address it on site.
Following the lack of engagement by Naomi Osaka, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open jointly wrote to her to check on her well-being and offer support, underline their commitment to all athletes’ well-being and suggest dialog on the issues. She was also reminded of her obligations, the consequences of not meeting them and that rules should equally apply to all players.
"Naomi Osaka today chose not to honour her contractual media obligations. The Roland-Garros referee has therefore issued her a $15,000 fine, in keeping with article III H. of the Code of Conduct.
"The mental health of players competing in our tournaments and on the Tours is of the utmost importance to the Grand Slams. We individually and collectively have significant resources dedicated to player well-being. In order to continue to improve however, we need engagement from the players to understand their perspective and find ways to improve their experiences. Every year we seek to deliver better experiences to our fans, our players and our people, and we have a long and successful track record in achievement on this count.
"A core element of the Grand Slam regulations is the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match, a responsibility which players take for the benefit of the sport, the fans and for themselves. These interactions allow both the players and the media to share their perspective and for the players to tell their story. The facilitation of media to a broad array of channels, both traditional and digital, is a major contributor to the development and growth of our sport and the fan base of individual players.
"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. As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament (Code of Conduct article III T.) and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions (Code of Conduct article IV A.3.).
"We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement. As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honour their commitments.
"Finally, all Grand Slams remain committed to continually reviewing and discussing opportunities, together with the Tours and the players, to improve every aspect of the player experience, including with the media. But we consider this is only ever achieved through respectful and constructive discussions."
Osaka has now decided to withdraw from the tournament of her own accord.
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Watch all the action from the 2021 French Open live on Eurosport, eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app with 13-time champion Rafael Nadal eyeing a remarkable 14th title at his favourite event and 2020 Roland Garros sensation Iga Swiatek aiming to replicate her stunning triumph in Paris.
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