Naomi Osaka says she is “leaning more towards not playing” at Wimbledon again because the WTA and ATP have said they will not award ranking points this year after the All England Club banned players from Russia and Belarus because of the invasion of Ukraine.
The four-time grand slam champion and former world No.1 sat out Wimbledon in 2021 as part of a mental health break following her withdrawal at Roland-Garros.
After losing in the first round at Roland-Garros on Monday night AEST, Osaka said the tennis tours’ move to withhold ranking points from Wimbledon “is kind of affecting my mentality” and she is “not 100 per cent sure if I’m going to go there.”
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She said she is “the type of player that gets motivated by seeing my ranking go up”, but added that she needed to think about the issue more before making a final decision.
Osaka lost her opening match to Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-4 at Roland-Garros on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
The 20-year-old Anisimova reached the Ronald-Garros semi finals in 2019, where she lost to eventual winner Ash Barty. She also beat Osaka in the third round at the Australian Open in January.
Osaka double-faulted twice on break point, once in each set. After the second, which gave Anisimova a 4-3 lead, Osaka took a 40-0 lead in the next gamem, but the American held.
Osaka played with tape on her left achilles. She was stretching it and kicking it with her right foot when she was broken in the seventh game of the second set.