Naomi Osaka could be kicked out of French Open over media boycott

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Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 on Sunday for following through on her media boycott — and that could be just the beginning.

Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 on Sunday for following through on her media boycott — and that could be just the beginning.

The French Open, in a joint statement with the US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open, threatened to kick Osaka out of the tournament and hand down punishment in other Grand Slams if she keeps shunning the media.

“We have advised Naomi Osaka that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences,” the statement said. “As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament (Code of Conduct article III T.) and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions (Code of Conduct article IV A.3.).”

Osaka, the 23-year-old four-time Grand Slam winner, did not speak with the media after her 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) first-round win over Patricia Maria Tig. She did briefly address the crowd on the court after the match.

Osaka posted a Twitter note on Wednesday saying she won’t be partaking in press conferences during this year’s French Open for mental health reasons, and she believes interviewing athletes after losses is like “kicking a person while they’re down.” Osaka said she hoped fines resulting from not fulfilling her media obligations would go toward a mental health charity.

Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 for not speaking with the media and could be kicked out of the tournament if she continues her boycott.

“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” Osaka wrote. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”

The French Open, which called engaging with the media a “core element of the Grand Slam regulations,” said it asked Osaka to reconsider and “tried unsuccessfully to speak with her to check on her well-being, understand the specifics of her issue and what might be done to address it on site.”

The Grand Slam tournaments said their action is aimed and ensuring players are treated the same.

“As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honor their commitments,” the statement said.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Justin Tasch