Early exit disappoints Osaka
Star may skip Wimbledon after first-round defeat at French Open
A year ago, Naomi Osaka left the French Open of her own volition: never beaten on the court, but determined to stand up for herself and protect her mental health.
On Monday, Osaka departed Roland Garros against her will — after a 7-5, 6-4 loss in the first round to Amanda Anisimova, who is seeded 27th and also beat her at the Australian Open in January — after taking a painkiller to deal with a troublesome left Achilles tendon. Osaka tried to stretch the tendon by tugging on her neon yellow shoes at changeovers, and by squatting to flex her lower leg between points.
She was unable to summon the serve or court coverage on which her game is based, in part because her practice time and recent match play have been limited. The fourtime Grand Slam champion and former No. 1-ranked player — now ranked No. 38, unseeded in Paris — double-faulted twice to end games and called the outcome “disappointing.”
Yet she also provided a measure of the way her mindset might have changed since her previous appearance at the clay-court major, when she decided not to speak to the media at all (drawing a $15,000 U.S. fine and threat of further punishment, which prompted her withdrawal), saying that stance was because of anxiety and depression she hadn’t previously revealed. Her openness back then helped spark a wider awareness of, and conversation about, the importance of mental health.
“I’m really happy with myself,” Osaka said Monday, “because I know the emotions that I left France (with) last year.”
She added that she’s leaning toward skipping Wimbledon, because there won’t be ranking points offered there, fallout from the tournament’s decision to bar players from Russia and Belarus.
In other matches, defending champion Barbora Krejcikova joined Osaka in departing in the first round.
Krejcikova was seeded No. 2, but was coming off an injured right elbow that kept her off the tour since February, and her first match back began with a 4-0 lead before unravelling into a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 exit against Diane Parry, a 19-year-old who is ranked 97th and entered the day with a 1-5 record in Grand Slam matches.
Krejcikova said she “hit the wall” early in the second set and never recovered, becoming just the third woman in French Open history to be defeated in her opener a year after winning the title.