The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Osaka signals another break after Open loss
NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka looked over at her agent and said she wanted to tell the world what the two of them had discussed privately in an Arthur Ashe Stadium hallway after her U.S. Open title defense ended with a rack- et-tossing, composure-miss- ing, lead-evaporating defeat in the third round.
His reply: “Sure.” And then Osaka, pausing every so often as her voice got caught on her words and her eyes filled with tears, said Friday night she is thinking about taking another break from tennis “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,” Osaka said following a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss at Flushing Meadows to Leylah Fer- nandez, an 18-year-old from Canada who is ranked 73rd and never had been this far
in Grand Slam competition. “I don’t think that’s normal.”
The moderator in charge of the session with reporters attempted to cut things off, but Osaka said she wanted to continue.
“This is very hard to articulate,” she said, resting her left cheek in her hand. “Basi- cally, I feel like I’m kind of at this point where I’m trying to figure out what I want to do, and I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match.”
Crying, she lowered her black visor over her eyes and offered an apology, then patted her palms on both cheeks.
“Yeah,” Osaka added as she rose to leave, “I think I’m going to take a break from playing for a while.”
This was the first Slam tournament for the 23-yearold Osaka since she pulled out of the French Open before the second round to take a mental health break after having announced she would not participate in news conferences in Paris.
She also sat out Wimbledon, before participating in the Tokyo Olympics, where she lit the cauldron as one of Japan’s most famous athletes.
Osaka owns four Grand Slam titles, including at the U.S. Open in 2018 — beating Serena Williams in a chaotic final — and a year ago, plus twomore on the hard courts of the Australian Open. When she took a hiatus after Roland Garros, she revealed that she endures waves of anxiety before meeting with the media and has dealt with depression for three years.
“Like, normally, I feel like I like challenges,” Osaka said Friday. “But recently I feel very anxious when things don’t go my way, and I feel like you can feel that.”