Tennis: after her withdrawal from Roland Garros, Naomi Osaka gives up Wimbledon

Published on : 06/17/2021 – 10:32 PM

Second blow in the space of a few hours for the organizers of the Wimbledon tournament, scheduled from June 28 to July 11. After the world number 3 Rafael Nadal, who forfeited to “let his body recover”, it is the turn of the world number 2, Naomi Osaka, to announce that she will not set foot on the London turf.

“Naomi will not be playing at Wimbledon this year. She is making time for herself, with her friends and family,” her agent Stuart Duguid said in a statement on Thursday (June 17th). On Wednesday, the organizers of the British tournament had sought to join her, without success. While the 2020 edition had been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, that of 2021 is now deprived of two important headliners.

The Japanese tenniswoman is going through a difficult period. Because she did not want to speak at a press conference during the Roland Garros tournament, she was fined. Naomi Osaka, who qualified for the second round in Paris, had finally decided to withdraw, citing problems of depression and anxiety.

Winner of four Grand Slam titles (US Open 2018 and 2020, Australian Open 2019 and 2021), the 23-year-old “will be ready to play the Olympics,” says her agent Stuart Duguid. The Olympics will take place in her country, in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8, and Naomi Osaka is “impatient to play in front of her audience”.

With AFP