Tennis star Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open after refusing to do press conferences
31 May 2021
Naomi Osaka, the world's No. 2 tennis star, announced Monday she was withdrawing from the French Open amid controversy over her decision to not participate in press conferences at the tournament.
The big picture: Osaka announced last week that she would skip the news conferences, saying, "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one." She was fined $15,000 by Roland Garros on Sunday for declining to participate in a mandatory news conference.
What she's saying: "This isn't a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago. I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," Osaka wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
- "I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly," she added.
- "The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that."
- "Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologize especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt, I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world's media."
- "So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences."
"I'm gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make these better for the players, press and fans."
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Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.