Naomi Osaka has spoken at her first press conference since refusing to face questions from reporters at the French Open.
And there were tears when she was challenged about how she has benefitted greatly from media attention, while avoiding speaking to the press.
Speaking at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, she said: “I wasn’t really proud. I felt I needed to do something for myself. I was holed up in my house and felt a little bit embarrassed to go out.”
She also said that athletes came up to her at the Tokyo Olympics and said they were ‘glad that I did what I did’.
The 23-year-old suggested there could be a ‘sick day’ arrangement allowing athletes to skip press conferences if they were feeling sad.
