NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka returned to the U.S. Open – the location of a number of the tennis star’s biggest triumphs on a courtroom and a few tough moments off it – for the primary time in a few 12 months to take part in a panel about psychological well being in sports, a subject she helped focus a highlight on two years in the past.
“For me coming back here, it means a lot. This room, in particular. There were some tears shed. A lot,” Osaka, who gained two of her 4 main championships at Flushing Meadows, mentioned with a chuckle within the Grand Slam match’s principal interview room. “I feel a lot of joy coming back here. It’s kind of like seeing an old friend I haven’t seen in a long time.”
Wednesday’s gathering, which additionally included Michael Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, touched on subjects resembling loneliness, connecting with others through a “buddy system,” the function of social media in psychological well being struggles and parenting.
Osaka is a 25-year-old who was born in Japan and moved to the United States along with her mother and father when she was 3. She lately gave beginning to a daughter and hasn’t competed on tour since an occasion in Tokyo in September 2022, shortly after she misplaced within the first spherical of the U.S. Open.
The former No. 1-ranked participant has mentioned she intends to return to motion on the Australian Open subsequent January.
“It’s definitely been really interesting. The whole process. It felt long and short at the same time. When I stepped away … I just remember watching the Australian Open and being very devastated, because I’ve never missed an Australian Open,” mentioned Osaka, who gained that main twice, too. “I was just thinking when I was watching Serena and Venus (Williams), I was thinking, ‘I probably, no way, will ever play at their age.’ But sitting here, I’m like, ‘No, you know what? I might do that.’”
Osaka revealed her points with despair and nervousness when she withdrew from the French Open in 2021. She later took prolonged breaks from the sport to guard her psychological well being.
Her newest time away “really raised my love for the sport and it made me realize I’m not going to play forever. I have to embrace the times. I’ve been playing tennis since I was 3,” she mentioned. “I don’t think I can predict what I’ll do – I never am able to do that – but it definitely made me appreciate a lot of things that I took for granted.”
Osaka, who additionally frolicked watching tennis Wednesday, spoke about how she “felt lonely” throughout her being pregnant.
Phelps mentioned a “breaking point” practically 10 years in the past, “where I didn’t want to be alive.”
“I literally didn’t talk about anything I was going through with my own family for 10 years and then it just – I was a volcano that erupted,” Phelps mentioned. “Instead of talking about it, I just let it build.”
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AP tennis protection: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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