Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open on Monday and wrote on Twitter that she would be taking a break from competition, a dramatic turn of events for a four-time Grand Slam champion who said she has "suffered long bouts of depression."
Osaka's agent, Stuart Duguid, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the world's No. 2-ranked tennis player was pulling out before her second-round match at the clay-court tournament in Paris.
The stunning move came a day after Osaka, a 23-year-old who was born in Japan and moved with her family to the U.S. at age 3, was fined $15,000 for skipping the postmatch news conference after her first-round victory at the French Open. She also was threatened by all four Grand Slam tournaments with possible additional punishment, including disqualification or suspension, if she continued with her intention - which Osaka revealed last week on Twitter - to not "do any press during Roland Garros."
People so easily dismiss the metal health of professional athletes simply because they are paid to play a sport at a level 99% of those who watch could never achieve. These same people then attack them when they have the audacity to let the world know they have the same issues as everyone else. Ones mental health is just as important as their physical health.
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