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- Naomi Osaka may skip Wimbledon for the second consecutive year.
- She thinks this year’s event is an “exhibition” and “pointless.”
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Naomi Osaka did not play Wimbledon last year amid her boycott of the media, and she may skip the championship again this year because she views it as “pointless.”
Osaka’s opinion comes after the ATP and WTA announced that ranking points won’t be awarded at Wimbledon this year after the championship banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing.
For her, Wimbledon without points at stake is just an “exhibition.”
“I’m not sure why, but I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition,” Osaka told the French Open press. “I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way.”
“Whenever I think something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100 percent. I didn’t even make my decision yet, but I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances, but that might change.”
Osaka’s comments came shortly after she lost in the first round of the French Open.
One would assume that Osaka would want to get the bad taste of losing out of her mouth by showing up at Wimbledon and making a run.
Osaka operates unlike any other athlete in sports, however, and the tennis superstar is going to brush the first-round exit off by most likely not playing tennis on the sport’s biggest stage.
Naomi Osaka Views This Year’s Wimbledon As ‘Pointless’
The 24-year-old admitted that she gets motivated by seeing her ranking go up, not by making history. Going out and winning a “pointless” Wimbledon, a tournament she’s yet to win, doesn’t do it for her.
“I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass court, but at the same time for me — it’s kind of like, I don’t want to say pointless, no pun intended, but I’m the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up or stuff like that.”
Osaka has the luxury of not playing tennis, even though that’s her profession. The media continues to treat her with safety gloves on and companies haven’t stopped awarding her despite the fact she’s been avoiding actually taking the court.
Her decision to not play in the sport’s most prestigious event is probably made easier by the fact she made $58 million off of endorsement deals in 2021.