Indian Wells, California: Japanese tennis ace Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Wednesday. She stated that she would be taking another indefinite layoff from tennis after her loss at the US Open earlier this month.
The withdrawal was reported on the official Twitter account for the Indian Wells hard-court tournament, which is set to take place Oct. 4-17 after being postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After losing in the third round of the year’s final major, the four-time Grand Slam champion told reporters she needed the break to focus on her mental health.
Osaka has struggled on the court since she pulled out from the French Open in May due to a disagreement with tournament administrators about mandatory media appearances, which she said had a negative impact on her performance.
In 2018, the 23-year-old Japanese player claimed her maiden WTA title in Indian Wells.
2018 Champion Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from #BNPPO21.
We look forward to seeing you in 2022, Naomi 💚🌴 pic.twitter.com/Sz6tCZ7wdI
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) September 22, 2021
“We look forward to seeing you in 2022, Naomi,” the tournament said on Twitter.” I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match, I think I’m going to take a break from playing for a while,” she said after the defeat.
After an early withdrawal from Cincinnati last month, she also dropped out of the Tokyo Olympics in the early rounds in July. The former world number one has dropped out of the top five in the WTA rankings and is now placed number eight.
