Paris (AFP)

Naomi Osaka, four-time Grand Slam winner on hard but not comfortable on clay, has decided not to participate in any press conference at Roland Garros.

The new star of world tennis advances the preservation of his mental health.

Osaka, world No. 2 and winner of the Australian Open at the start of the year, will be the first to set foot on the Central court on Sunday, at eleven o'clock, against the Romanian Patricia Maria Tig (63rd).

But whatever the result, the Japanese will not answer journalists' questions afterwards.

Already, she hasn't given a pre-tournament press conference.

Osaka (23) announced his decision on social media on Wednesday.

"I have often had the feeling that people have no regard for the mental health of athletes and it hits me every time I see a press conference or that I participate in it," she said. .

# photo1

"Often, we are asked questions that we have already been asked many times, or questions that make us doubt and I will not submit to people who doubt me," she continued.

His choice could cost him up to $ 20,000 (around 16,500 euros) per zapped press conference, according to WTA regulations.

- Only one victory -

"If the authorities think that they can just keep telling us + Go on conf 'or you will be fined +, and ignore the mental health of the sportsmen which is the centerpiece, then I prefer to laugh about it", launched Osaka, which had given voice last summer in full movement "Black Lives Matter".

This time, she did not really find an echo among players.

"Without the press, without the people who travel to write about our victories, we probably wouldn't be the sportsmen we are today. We wouldn't have the recognition that we have around the world, and we wouldn't be also popular, considers Rafael Nadal, the host at Roland Garros. The media are a very important part of our sport. "

On the short side, on clay, Osaka is light years away from the stratospheric results of the Mallorcan.

The Japanese, who grew up in the United States on hard, the surface on which she won her four major trophies, two at the US Open (2018 and 2020) and two at the Australian Open (2019 and 2021) , has never yet reached any final on ocher, nor passed the third round in Paris (2016, 2018 and 2019).

# photo2

This season, she won only one match, in Madrid (against Doi), and lost two.

- "Learn to slide" -

"The first two days that I trained on clay this year, I was very annoyed, because I am used, when I start again, to feel the ball well and not to feel that I have not played for a little while, she said in the Spanish capital. But on clay, it's very different, you have to adjust your footwork differently, the false rebounds are really disturbing. "

"Wim (Fissette, her trainer, editor's note) told me that it was normal and that I just had to stay calm," she continued.

Last year, Osaka skipped the shortened ocher tour after resuming the world tour in the summer.

So much so that it was almost two years between his return to the surface at the beginning of May in Madrid and his last match to date, in the spring of 2019, an unsuccessful foray into the Fed Cup in February 2020 (loss to the 'Spanish Sorribes) aside.

Beaten by Czech Karolina Muchova in her second match on Madrid clay, "I want to learn to slide like she does," said the former world No. 1.

"I hope I can learn to do this. Maybe it will take a few years of playing on clay, I hope I can learn quickly."

# photo3

So far, Osaka has never beaten a top 20 player on ocher in seven matches.

© 2021 AFP