Tennis pro, Naomi Osaka has announced recently that she will take another break from tennis after her title defense at the US Open ended in the third round. The world number three was defeated by Leylah Fernandez, 18, 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
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Naomi Osaka withdrew from this year’s French Open after admitting to struggling with her mental health since becoming a Grand Slam champion for the first time in 2018.
Naomi, 23, also missed Wimbledon before returning to the sport at the Olympics in her home country Tokyo this year, where she lit the flame during the opening ceremony but later dropped on the way.
“I feel like I’m kind of at this point where I’m trying to figure out what I want to do,” Osaka said in a post-match news conference, in which she almost cried. Â
“I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match. I think I’m going to take a break from playing for a while.
“I feel like for me recently, when I win I don’t feel happy. I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don’t think that’s normal.”
Naomi Osaka was on her way to a straight-set victory when she broke Fernandez’s serve for a 6-5 lead in the second set. However, a series of forehand errors cost her her serve and the ensuing tiebreak, during which she threw her racquet on the floor, which was uncharacteristic of her.
“I’m really sorry about that. I’m not really sure why. Normally I feel like I like challenges. But recently, I feel very anxious when things don’t go my way, and I feel like you can feel that. I was kind of like a little kid,” she added.
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Naomi Osaka is the first woman in the top 20 to lose a match at the US Open this year. Fernandez, who turns 19 on Monday, will now compete for a quarter-final spot against 2016 champion Angelique Kerber.
