It has been a very rough year for tennis star Naomi Osaka. It all started at the French Open when she decided that she wasn't going to do media availability. She felt as though the media made her too anxious and she was simply protecting her mental health. After being fined for this, Osaka dropped out of the French Open and eventually dropped out of Wimbledon as well.
From there, she had a disappointing showing at the Olympics and after a third-round exit in the US Open, she decided that she would be taking a prolonged break from tennis. Things were beginning to spiral for her and it was clear that tennis simply wasn't at the top of her mind. Needless to say, the break was very much necessary if she wanted to get back to her old habits of winning.
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Recently, Osaka came back to practice and she decided to post about it on social media. As she notes in her post below, it was a bit hard to get back out there after some extended time off, although she appears to be excited about what's next for her career. It also seems as though she got a ton of support from her fans throughout this rough patch.
"Kinda rusty but feels good to be back," Osaka said. "I really want to say thank you everyone for all the kind messages, I really appreciate it."
With Grand Slams starting back up in 2022, Osaka will have a golden opportunity to prove to the world that she's still one of the best at what she does.