Naomi Osaka takes part in French Open news conference, admits to nerves year after media holdout, taking mental health break

Naomi Osaka laughed at some of the jokes she cracked at the tennis tournament. She smiled when some reporters asked her questions. She paused to think before giving answers.

All of which seemed to confirm this assessment that she offered during an 18-minute pre-tournament French Open news conference, one year after she declared she would avoid talking to reporters and then withdrew before the second round.

At the end of a lengthy and thoughtful reply about what it was like to come back to a place where her last trip was more about her well-being and off-court mindset than her tennis, Osaka used those words. It's saying something for a player who already has four Grand Slam titles.

I'm not going to lie. I was very worried when I first arrived. I was worried if there were people that I offended, I would just kind of hit them. I am not sure. I was worried about the press conference because I knew there would be a lot of questions.

Osaka said that he wouldn't want to say where he is right now. I am still thinking about it.

Before the French Open in 2021, Osaka said that she would not do any press during the tournament and that it would be a mental health issue. She was fined $15,000 for skipping the media day and the mandatory news conference after winning the first round. The four Grand Slam tournaments threatened Osaka with additional punishment, including disqualification or suspension.

She pulled out of theRoland Garros tournament, explaining that she experiences huge waves of anxiety before speaking to the media and has suffered bouts of depression, helping make such comments more common among athletes.

After losing at the US Open, Osaka took a mental health break.

At the Australian Open, where she was the reigning champion, she lost in the third round to a 20-year-old American, who happens to be Osaka's first opponent in Paris.

The lack of action and her poor preparation for the French Open has caused Osaka's ranking to fall to 38. Osaka withdrew from the Rome clay-court tournament because of an injury.

There is no way I am not going to play this tournament, so of course, you have to manage things.

It's... I have played a lot of Grand Slams with something, so I think maybe there is a chance I could play really good when I have an injury, because I feel like I don't have anything to lose.