Japan’s Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner struggling with recurring anxiety issues this year, will be absent from the Indian Wells WTA 1000 tournament next month, organizers of the Californian tournament announced Wednesday.
The announcement is not a surprise, as the 23-year-old Japanese star announced his intention to “take a break for a while” almost three weeks ago, just after his surprise elimination in the third round of the US Open (last Grand Slam of the World Cup). anus). She was defeated to everyone’s surprise by the young Canadian Leylah Fernández, finalist of the event.
“I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match,” Osaka said, before breaking down in tears that night at a press conference. “I feel like lately when I win I don’t feel happy. I feel more relieved. And then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don’t think that’s normal.
At the end of May, he had withdrawn before the second round of Roland Garros (second Grand Slam), after creating controversy by refusing to answer questions from the media. It was there that he discovered anxiety problems, marked by “various depressive episodes.”
Believing that she had to take a break, she stopped playing at Wimbledon in July (third Grand Slam) and returned to the courts of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she was appointed to light the Olympic flame. In Tokyo she was eliminated in the third round.
Osaka, which left the Top 5 in the last world rankings, won at Indian Wells in 2018. (AFP)