Following her groundbreaking withdrawal from Roland-Garros last week, Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Berlin WTA 5000, the pre-Wimbledon tournament. The four time Grand Slam champion’s hiatus from the courts ahead of the Wimbledon, which commences in late June, leaves spectators skeptical of if she’ll participate in the tournament.
“We have received notification Naomi Osaka cannot start in Berlin. After consulting her management, she will take a break,” the event organizers said in a statement via ESPN. As of late, the length of her sabbatical hasn’t been clarified by her management but her recent vocalness regarding the vulnerable mental health of athletes has sparked an expansive dialogue on the hypercriticism players are subjected to, the misogynoir that lingers in sports and the preservation of self in spite of power dynamics.
Just four days ahead of the French Open, the 23-year-old announced that she would not participate in post-match press conferences, a valiant protest against the invasiveness of the press that all too often publicly sews seeds of doubt into athletes. Despite emphasizing her sanguine rapport with reporters, Osaka was equally clear that the flurry of questions oft-feels like “kicking a person while they’re down.” The tournament organizers expectedly levied $15,000 fines against the top-earning tennis star in response to her boycott. Ultimately, the media frenzy that followed Osaka’s contentious decision led to her withdrawing altogether. Revealing in a letter that she has suffered from “long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018” and social anxiety that intensified during press conferences, she wrote, “I’m going to 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.” Serena Williams, who has also been similarly penalized for her emotional vulnerability, Coco Gauff, Venus Williams and Usain Bolt rallied around the young tennis phenom in support.
