Naomi Osaka: I felt ungrateful towards tennis
Naomi Osaka said she had felt "ungrateful" at times over the last year for not fully appreciating her life as one of the world's top tennis players.
The world No. 2 sealed a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory over Coco Gauff at the Cincinnati Masters yesterday morning (Singapore time).
It was her first event outside the Olympics since withdrawing from the French Open in June after being punished for refusing to do media conferences, saying her mental health was adversely impacted by certain lines of questioning.
Osaka shed tears and briefly left a press conference in Cincinnati on Monday when asked about her relationship with the media and returned to the theme yesterday.
"I was wondering why was I so affected, I guess, like what made me not want to do media," the 23-year-old told a news conference.
"I'm wondering if I was scared... The choice to go out there and play, to go see fans that... watch me play, that itself is an accomplishment.
"I'm not sure when along the way I started desensitising that. It started not being like an accomplishment for me. So I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact." - REUTERS
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