Naomi Osaka Announces Pregnancy, Eyes Aussie Open 2024 Return

That will be some fierce postpartum depression. Read HERE.

 

Naomi Osaka Withdraws From French Open, Citing Mental Health

Reeling from the unintended uproar she created by announcing she would flagrantly break the rules by not doing required press conferences, four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open. It's a shame that it's come to this, but if as she says her mental health is at stake by fulfilling her duties, I applaud her decision. 

Via Twitter:

 

I think Ben Rothenberg summed it up well here:

P.S. Twitter has become almost unviewable. (If you don't agree with someone completely, then they have "no business weighing in on" the topic. If you do agree with someone completely, have at it!) If I abruptly blocked or unfollowed you there, I did it for MY mental health.

People who couldn’t care less about tennis sure love to weigh in on it if they think their 2 cents can make them look virtuous. (Imagine if we had this many actual fans!) I can’t get Twitter to stop “recommending” these musings, but at least the NOT INTERESTED button exists. 🙏

— Kenneth M. Walsh (@kenneth212) May 31, 2021

P.S. The Wall Street Journal was on the Naomi Osaka situation two years ago. 

The Most Anxious Generation Goes to Work ⁦@WSJ⁩ https://t.co/ebnjNBBP0u

— Roger Panetta (@NimbleAtWork) May 11, 2019

"[20somethings] report higher levels of anxiety. How managers can help them steer past fear and improve work performance—and how young workers can work to calm their anxiety and be more effective." 

Naomi Osaka Withdraws From Cincy, Joining Sports Protests Against Racial Injustice and Police Brutality -- UPDATE

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of of tomorrow’s "Cincinnati" semifinals, joining athlete protests across baseball and basketball. I think doing this in an individual sport requires a lot more sacrifice than team sports, so I applaud her decision.

Sports come to a halt: NBA, WNBA, MLB, MLS postpone games as players protest Jacob Blake shooting

UPDATE:

Interesting turn of events. No word on whether this will have any effect on Osaka’s decision, but it will mean the finalists will have less time to recover for Monday’s U.S. Open start.

UPDATE 2:

Kudos to Naomi and the organizers. 

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Indian Wells is where the action is this week. But since the finals aren't until this weekend, thought I'd share some of the other sights from around the desert -- starting with Serbian stud Filip Kjajinovic. He may not know how to spell Colombian, but he's smart enough to get Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal alone in a hot tub.

Ryan Harrison knows how to pick hitting partners .. 

Roger Federer is probably thrilled Tommy Haas is directing the tournament so he doesn't upset him yet again ... 

I like how Borna Coric celebrates International Women's Day ...

There was a lot of ass on the court with the Pouille-Wawrinka doubles pairing ...

Cute that Novak Djokovic said he got nervous playing in front of his childhood idol, even if Pete Sampras and his son sat there chomping on gum with their mouths open during the whole match ...

Adam Rippon got friendly with Nick McCarvel ...

before returning to the LGBTQ VIP lounge along with his hunky Finnish boyfriend,Jussi-Pekka Kajaala, plus Caitlyn Jenner and her main squeeze, Sophia Hutchins.

A lot of people are complaining about the ouster of ATP chairman Chris Kermode, supposedly as a result of a coup led by Novak Djokovic. Now I don’t really follow the back-office politics of the ATP. But if the smoking gun against Djokovic is his wanting the lower echelon of players to get more prize money, then I say good riddance to Kermode. Read HERE.

Congrats to Martina Hingis on the birth of her first child!

And nice to see Naomi Osaka front and center on ESPN's World Fame 100 issue.

(With wire services)

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Didn't make it to the New York Open again -- not only is it on Long Island, but the LIRR doesn't let out near the venue -- but got to see sexy gland freak Reilly Opelka win his first ATP Tour title Sunday, beating qualifier Brayden Schnur 6-1, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (7). The 6-foot-11 Opelka hit 43 aces for the second straight match, the final one to finally end things after an overturned call had helped him set up match point. 

The Associated Press reports that a night after overcoming six match points to beat top-seeded John Isner in the semifinals, Opelka needed six of his own to finish off Schnur -- who has an incredible body that was frequently on display thanks to his shirt doubling as a sweat towel -- in the matchup of first-time finalists. Schnur, who had never won a tour-level match before arriving in New York and making it into the tournament through qualifying, nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback after getting blown off the court in less than 20 minutes in the first set. The 154th-ranked Canadian appeared to finally have a match point of his own, but Opelka challenged what initially looked like Schnur's ace. The serve was ruled out, and Schnur double-faulted on his second serve. Opelka then wrapped it up with the last of his 156 aces in the tournament.

The Italian got 250 points and some mate cocido!

Italian Marco Cecchinato won the Argentina Open on Sunday with an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory over hometown favorite Diego Schwartzman. World No. 18 Cecchinato raced through the match in little over an hour to claim his third ATP title. 

Buenos Aires-born Schwartzman -- who had upset No. 1 seed and doubles partner Dominic Thiem in the semis -- buckled under the pressure of playing in front of a hometown crowd and at one stage lost seven games in a row. Cecchinato romped to the title without dropping a set all week. The 26-year-old -- who you may recall is the last person to beat Novak Djokovic in a major -- captured titles in Umag and Budapest last year and is now three for three in ATP finals. 

And speaking of doubles, Thiem and Schwartzman reached the final before getting killed by the equally sexy team of Máximo González and Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-1.

The finalists with Richard Krajicek

Gael Monfils defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Rotterdam Open. Monfils, the runner-up three years ago, held off Wawrinka's second-set surge to ease through the decider to capture his eighth career title. Wawrinka, the 2015 champion in the Dutch port city who is continuing an 18-month comeback from double knee surgery, was playing in his first final since Roland Garros in June 2017. It was the first championship match in 11 years at Rotterdam to feature two unseeded players.

And on the women's side, unseeded Elise Mertens captured the biggest title of her career at the Qatar Total Open on Saturday. The Belgian rallied from a set and a break down to defeat top seed Simona Halep, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win her first-ever WTA Premier-level crown, and the fifth title of her career overall. The former World No.12 defeated three Top 10 foes in the last three rounds overall, as she also defeated Kiki Bertens and Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Will Mertens finally move up the rankings so she can start being seeded?

And interest in the Osaka-Bajimn divorce shows no sign of tapering off. Naomi said in an interview that her split with coach Sascha Bajin was about putting "happiness" before "success." (Ouch.) Read HERE.

!!!!!!!

The ups and downs of professional tennis



(With wire services)

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Novak Djokovic increased the odds that he might be deemed GOAT when all is said and done, dismissing Rafael Nadal in straight sets to claim his record seventh Australian Open title.

Nadal delivered the best post-match speech in recent memory

 I’ve been watching professional tennis since 1977, and I’ve never seen a man play better than I did in that match -- and against one of the best players of all time.

Rafa scores a win down under ... 

 Truly incredible. Nadal was p;laying in just his first tournament since retiring in the semifinals of the U.S. Open -- so reaching the final at all was Serena-esque, to put it mildly.

 But the Spaniard had looked so utterly unbeatable that I was still taken aback by the outcome. 

Assuming Nadal stays healthy, it will be fun to see these two possibly square off in Paris again, where Nole will be going for his second sweep of the majors. 

Already told you how thrilled I am for Naomi Osaka, who won her second straight major on Saturday. 

Nice to finally see that smile she was robbed of in New York ...

Found these pics of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut  ...

to be strangely homoerotic ... 

Leg men ... and did you see Herbert's HOT BROTHER? 

The Frenchmen achieved a career Grand Slam in men's doubles after defeating Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the final, 6–4, 7–6(1)!

Ended up watching the boys' final, pitting No. 1 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy and American Emilio Nava. I don't really see much of a future for either of them, to be honest. But it immediately took me back to my juniors days, with each boy tensing up and wanting it SO BADLY that you could barely breathe even as a spectator. That it went to a third-set tiebreak in which each boy had match points only added to the drama. But in the end the Italian came out on top. Ivan Lendl presented the trophies -- which was as awkward as you'd guess. But it looks like Novak Djokovic surprised the guys by stopping by later, which seems to have put smiles on their faces. 

Love this photo so much! 

Another fun factoid I learned this fortnight is that there have been 26 women ranked number one in the history of the WTA -- and Serena has beaten a stunning 21 of them if you count what she did against Karolina Pliskova. Can you name the five she hasn't beaten? Hint: Only one of them is a player who hadn't retired before Serena got to 'em!

When Damian and I saw Naomi play Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2016, we predicted she was the real deal. Now she's proven she's even realer than we thought! After she beat Petra Damian said to me, "Shouldn't she be pacing herself?"

(With wire services)

Naomi Osaka Edges Petra Kvitová for Australian Open Title, Number 1 Ranking

Damian and I opted to sleep then go on a media blackout while we watched the final on the ole DVR — and boy were we not disappointed! Hard not to feel bad for the resurgent Petra, but how thrilling it was to see Naomi become the first woman since 2001 to win her first two majors back to back, while also claiming the No. 1 ranking! Bonus points for her finally getting to enjoy the moment without some drama queen sucking up all the oxygen in the stadium ...