She prepares at her own pace.

Japanese star Naomi Osaka, who withdrew from Roland Garros at the end of May saying he suffered from depression and anxiety, gives up participating in the Wimbledon tournament, which begins in eleven days, his agent told AFP on Thursday.

“Naomi won't play at Wimbledon this year.

She takes time for herself, with her friends and her family, ”said the press release sent by Stuart Duguid.

On the other hand, "she will be ready for the Olympics and is eager to play in front of her home crowd," he added.

The day before, the organizers of the 3rd round of the Grand Slam of the tennis season (June 28-July 11) who hoped for his presence, had contacted his team, without having been able to "speak to Naomi herself" and had added not have "received confirmation" of non-participation.

So here it is formalized.

A second blow for Wimbledon in the space of a few hours, since earlier Thursday, the world N.3, Rafael Nadal, had also announced his package in order to "let his body recover".

The Spaniard, 13 times crowned on Parisian clay, was stripped of his throne at Roland Garros last Friday, beaten in the semifinals by Novak Djokovic after an epic fight, in which he appeared physically marked.

"Long periods of depression"

Osaka, world No. 2 and four-time Grand Slam winner (US Open 2018 and 2020, Australian Open 2019 and 2021), 23, had warned that she would take a step back from the competition, due to problems of depression and anxiety.

She had created a resounding shock by deciding to withdraw from the women's table at Roland Garros on May 31, citing these reasons and explaining having gone through "long periods of depression" since 2018.

This episode was the brutal end of a very hectic week in the tennis world, after she initially refused to attend tournament press conferences to "keep her sanity".

Sanctioned with a fine of $ 15,000, she had been threatened with exclusion not only from the Paris tournament, but also from other Grand Slam events.

Osaka will therefore not be in London this year, a tournament from which it was eliminated in the third round in 2017 and 2018 and where it lost in the first round in 2019. Last year, the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus .

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