Following her $15,000 fine and threats of disqualification from the French Open tournament, 23 year old Tennis star Naomi Osaka has now withdrawn from the competition entirely.
Naomi had earlier announced that she will skip the competition’s press conferences due to mental health reasons.
In a series of tweet, the young tennis ace said: “I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,”
“We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds, and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me,” she added.
This obviously didn’t sit well with the event’s governing bodies who run the each of the four Grand Slam tournaments (the U.S. Tennis Association, the French Tennis Federation, the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Tennis Australia); leading to a $15,000 fine and threats to disqualify the athlete from the tournament.
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However, in a bold move, Naomi responded to the threat by announcing her withdrawal from the competition.
“I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my wellbeing is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris,” she wrote.
In the statement which was released online, she continued: “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 trivialize 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. Anyone that knows me know I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety,” she added.
Naomi admitted that she had already began to feel anxiety ahead of the competition and thus thought it best to avoid the press conference for the sake of her mental well being.
Concluding the statement, she said: “I’m gonna take some time away from the court now, but when I 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. Anyways hope you are all doing well and staying safe, love you guys I’ll see you when I see you.”
We don’t know if we have heard the last of the issue just yet. It will be interesting to see how the governing bodies react to this. Whichever way it spins, Naomi needs support and love now.
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Too sad.
Mental health more important abeg.