After losing to Amanda Anisimova, 7-5, 6-4, the four-time Grand Slam winner says she is leaning toward not playing at Wimbledon, which has opted not to award rankings points this year. … Nova…
A year ago, Naomi Osaka left the French Open of her own volition, never beaten on the court but determining that she needed to pull out before the second round to stand up for herself and protect her mind. On Monday, Osaka departed Roland Garros against her will – via a 7-5, 6-4 loss in the first round to 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, who is seeded 27th and also won their contest at the Australian Open in January – after taking a painkiller to try to deal with a troublesome left Achilles tendon. She tried to stretch the tendon by tugging on her neon yellow shoes at changeovers or by squatting to flex her lower leg between points. Osaka was unable to summon the serving or court coverage on which her game is based, in part because her practice time and recent match play have been limited. The four-time Grand Slam champion and former top-ranked player in the world, who is now ranked No. 38 and was unseeded in Paris, double-faulted twice to end games and called the outcome “disappointing.”
Yet she also provided a measure of the way in which her mindset might have changed since her previous appearance at the clay-court major tournament, when she decided not to speak to the media at all (drawing a $15,000 fine and the 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.”
Barbora Krejcikova also was aware of the wide spectrum of emotions she went through herself at the French Open from 2021 – when she was a Grand Slam singles champion for the first time – to 2022 – when she joined Osaka in departing in the first round. Krejcikova was seeded No. 2, but she 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 unraveling into a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 exit against Diane Parry, a 19-year-old from France who is ranked 97th and entered the day with a 1-5 career 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 opening match a year after winning the title. There weren’t any other such significant results on Day 2, when the women’s winners included No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion; and other past major champs Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andrescu. On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic’s first Grand Slam match in 7½ months went about as well as possible. The top-seeded Djokovic opened his title defense at the French Open with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 victory in less than two hours over Yoshihito Nishioka. He improved to 18-0 for his career in the first round at Roland Garros. About the only uncomfortable moment for Djokovic might have been when some spectators booed after he let out some yells after winning points in the second set. The match was played Monday night with the retractable roof at Court Philippe Chatrier shut because of rain. Djokovic, who turned 35 on Sunday, is pursuing a third title in Paris and a 21st Grand Slam trophy overall, which would tie him with Rafael Nadal for the men’s record. He hadn’t played in a major tournament since losing to Daniil Medvedev in the U.S. Open final last September, ending Djokovic’s bid to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam for a man since 1969. Djokovic could not compete at the Australian Open this January because he has decided not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. There is no vaccine requirement for the French Open. Nadal and all of his aches and pains rolled in his opener, the 13-time French Open champion beating beat Jordan Thompson, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
