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- Naomi Osaka is out at the Olympics following a straight-set loss in the third round.
- The 23-year-old talked about the pressure being a bit too much to handle in Tokyo.
- Check out more Olympic coverage at BroBible here.
Naomi Osaka’s Olympic debut did not go as planned as she fell 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday to No. 42 ranked Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the third round.
For the host country of Japan, Osaka was the headline athlete for the Games, which began with her lighting the Olympic cauldron to officially begin the festivities. The Olympics also marked the first time she had taken the court after taking a two-month mental break amid her boycott of the media.
Following her loss to Vondrousova, Osaka initially decided to continue her media blackout but later returned to the press room to answer a few questions, according to the NY Post. The 23-year-old said that the pressure of making her Olympic debut in her home country of Japan was “a bit much.”
“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year (it) was a bit much.”
“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”
While representing your country on your home soil undoubtedly comes with pressure, Osaka has competed and won on the grandest stages the sport has to offer with two Australian Opens and a pair of U.S. Open wins under her belt. Fans were in attendance for three of her four Grand Slam, which isn’t the case for this year’s Olympics.
Naomi Osaka Has Issues With The Media, But The Media Loves Her
Osaka’s media boycott began at the French Open after she refused to do post-match interviews saying she gets “really nervous” and finds the whole press conference setting “stressful.” Her media boycott continued into Wimbledon, where she elected not to participate, citing depression and anxiety battles.
The media has only been more obsessed with Osaka since she decided she wasn’t going to speak to the press anymore.
Since Osaka began her boycott, Netflix has released a documentary about her (which was her idea in the first place) and she’s been on the cover of Vogue. She’s also been featured in her own Sweetgreen commercial, was on the cover of Time, has her own Barbie doll, and most recently landed the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.
Somehow, Osaka has remained a media star without actually talking to the media.