Naomi Osaka announces withdrawal from French Open amid media controversy
Naomi Osaka's silence spoke volumes.
On Monday, she took it a step further by opting out of the French Open after her decision to not speak to the media resulted in a fine and possible future repercussions.
The French Open kicked off this week, and the Japanese superstar Osaka – the No. 2-ranked women's tennis player in the world – got things underway Sunday with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Patricia Maria Tig.
But before Osaka embarked on her quest to win her first title at Roland Garros, she made headlines when she announced Wednesday that she would forego all of her media responsibilities in an effort to protect her mental health.
After her first-round win, Osaka stood by her word and refused to do a news conference, though she did an on-court interview following the win against Tig. As she anticipated, she was fined $15,000 by the tournament for opting out of the larger media session.
But what she might not have anticipated was that those fines would be just the tip of the iceberg.
The four Grand Slam tournaments – the French Open, the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – released a joint statement Sunday, outlining their response to Osaka's refusal to fulfill her media obligations.
"Following [Osaka's] 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," the statement 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. 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.)."
In response to the Grand Slam tournaments' reaction to her silence, the 23-year-old phenom announced her withdrawal from the tournament.
In a Twitter post Monday, Osaka wrote that 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."
As for the future, it remains to be seen how things will proceed at Grand Slam tournaments.
Osaka is currently the biggest draw in women's tennis. She won the previous two Grand Slams – the 2020 US Open and the 2021 Australian Open – and after Sunday's win, she is riding a 15-match Grand Slam winning streak.
In addition, just this past week, it was revealed that for the second year in a row, Osaka was the highest-paid female athlete in the world, pulling in $55 million in 2020.
Osaka is in her prime as a player and quickly becoming the face of women's tennis, with her immense skill set on the court and the 39-year-old Serena Williams in the twilight of her career.
Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion – she has won both the Australian Open and the US Open twice – and if her post-match news conference after this year's Australian victory was any indication, she is hungry for more Grand Slam titles.
"You want to win a Grand Slam," Osaka said. "You don't go into a final wanting to be the runner-up. For me, I feel like every opportunity I have to play a Slam is an opportunity to win a Slam."
The burning question now is if Osaka will have the opportunity to play in more 2021 Grand Slams. And to reiterate: She did participate in a post-match, on-court interview Sunday.
With Osaka's withdrawal, her second-round opponent, Ana Bogdan, advances to the third round. The next Grand Slam, Wimbledon, is set to begin on June 28.
After Osaka's announcement, Twitter lit up in response, mainly in support of Osaka:
