The Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, former number one in the world, was eliminated this Monday by the American Amanda Anisimova in the first round of Roland Garros, in which it was her first meeting in the French ‘major’ after the controversial withdrawal of 2021.
A year after withdrawing from Roland Garros after the controversy generated by his decision to boycott the press conferences of the tournament, to raise awareness of the issue of mental health, Osaka returned to the “rattled earth cathedral” for a short-lived performancebeing defeated by the seeded 27, by partials of 7-5 and 6-4, in one hour and 30 minutes.
Naomi Osaka. The vulnerable and honest story of a champion
This is Anisimova’s second consecutive victory over the Japanese in ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments, as the American, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2019, took it upon herself to eliminate Osaka, then the defending champion, in the third round of the Australian Open this year.
For the former world number one, currently ranked 38th in the WTA rankings, this is just the third time he has fallen in the first round of a “Grand Slam” tournament.
Winner of the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, the 24-year-old Osaka never got past the third round at Roland Garros, having been ruled out at this stage in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Source: Observadora