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The story behind tennis megastar Naomi Osaka’s refusal to participate in press conferences due to mental health and how she brought the issue front and center for athletes

- BEN ROTHENBERG

Four-time Grand Slam tennis champion and the highest-paid woman athlete in sports, Japanese-Haitian-American Naomi Osaka made headlines and sparked national conversations as a champion of both racial justice and mental health. She was responsible for a halt in the run-up tournament to the 2020 U.S. Open following the shooting and resulting paralysis of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer; donned seven different masks drawing attention to more names and stories of racial injustice for each match she played in the U.S. Open (which she won); and then, before the 2021 French Open, announced she would not sit for press conferences, citing mental health. When the tournament levied strict fines and threatened severe punishments including possible disqualification-Osaka withdrew from the tournament after her first-round win and became the face of conversations around athletes' mental health.

Now after a break since September 2022 and the birth of a daughter-a reinvigorated Osaka, 26, plans to return to the court in January 2024 with the goal of adding "eight" more Grand Slam titles to the four she has already won. She told Shuzo Matsuoka, the Japanese TV personality and former tennis pro: "It makes me very excited to return to the sport."

NAOMI OSAKA: HER JOURNEY TO FINDING HER POWER AND HER VOICE (Dutton, January) by journalist Ben Rothenberg tells the story of Osaka's rise to stardom, her challenges and successes. This excerpt from the book shares the behindthe-scenes story of how one woman brought mental health issues front and center to the tennis world and beyond.