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In some blockbuster late-night news, Naomi Osaka has announced on Instagram that she is pulling out of her scheduled “Cincy” semifinal Thursday morning against Elise Mertens.
The reason apparently is not injury, but solidarity.
“Hello, as many of you are aware I was scheduled to play my semifinals match tomorrow. However, before I am a (sic) athlete, I am a black woman. And as a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.
I don’t expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction.
Watching the cotinued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick ot my stomach. I’m exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I’m extremely ired of having this sale conversation over and over again.
When will it ever be enough? #JacobBlake, #BreonnaTaylor, #ElijahMcclain, #GeorgeFloyd.
Later in the evening, after 11 p.m., the Western & Southern Open announced that it would pause all play on Thursday.
The tournament, the tours and the USTA are “recognizing the moment”. But nothing is cancelled.
Osaka will play Friday
Tennis will resume on Friday with the semifinals. And from that we can deduce that the finals will be on Saturday. That’s a day later than scheduled.
As well, Osaka announced that she would indeed contest the final Friday after what she described as “lengthy consultation” with the various stakeholders. She pronounced herself satisfied that the tournament’s postponing of the entire day’s schedule “brought more attention to the movement”.
Since the tournament had never issued the walkover for the match to be played the following day, there was no problem with keeping the status quo.
And for those who reach the final, it’s one less day of rest and recovery before the US Open is scheduled to begin on Monday.
Osaka active during the lockdown
The Japanese player spent much of the tennis shutdown at her new home in Los Angeles. But she did travel. And one of the places she went was to Minneapolis, to support a protest in the wake of the murder of George Floyd back in May.
She had posted some photos from the trip.
They now have been scrubbed from her Instagram.
As the young star added corporate sponsors and risen up the athletes’ earnings list, it was clear from what she said during a Zoom pre-tournament press conference that she’s been advised to be … rather circumspect in diving into sensitive subjects.
That’s definitely true in the case of U.S. politics; the specific question was about the announcement of Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice-president nominee.
Like Osaka, Harris’s heritage is half Asian, half Caribbean.
She has been active in reTweeting the messages of others on the Black Lives Matter movement – which has become as big a political flashpoint in the U.S. as anything in recent months.
And she has added an occasional one of her own.
But clearly, Wednesday, she’d had enough and decided to take a strong stand.
The many people who make a living off of her success might not be happy about it. But the 22-year-old is admirably standing up for what she believes in, and choosing her own course here.
“Not supposed to talk”
“I would say it’s a bit weird, the stance I have to take. I’m not supposed to talk about politics, to be honest, because technically I’m not American, per se. I kind of have always been advised not to say anything,” she said.
“It’s a bit weird when you’re living in the country and you’re seeing the things that are going on, and you kind of want to say what you think but you’re not supposed to.
“I would just say everything that’s going on is really interesting. I feel like the younger generation is definitely trying to do something about it. It’s going to be interesting how it turns out.”
Osaka is technically a Japanese citizen, a choice of citizenship she had to make by her 22nd birthday. The revenue potential for the American whose mother is Japanese, and father Haitian is off the charts in Japan – much more so in the U.S., where she has lived since was three years old.
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I love Naomi Osaka Stephanie! She is doing the right thing here!
She was doing what she thinks is right.
Whether it’s right or not is a matter of opinion.
But I feel like, if you feel that strongly about something, you’re not being true to yourself if you don’t put your money where your mouth is.