Tennis Star Osaka Fined for Not Meeting Press at French Open

Paris, May 30 (Jiji Press)--The organizer of the French Open tennis tournament said Sunday that Naomi Osaka has been fined for not holding a press conference after her first-round singles match at this year's competition, which started on the day. As Osaka "today chose not to honor her contractual media obligations," the Roland-Garros referee issued her a 15,000-dollar fine in accordance with a relevant article in the code of conduct for the tournament, the organizer said. The tennis star wrote on social media recently that she would not hold a press conference during the 2021 French Open, partly citing mental burden. For the first-round match, some Japanese and foreign media organizations asked Osaka for a press conference. But she did not meet the request. Osaka won the opening match. A core element of the regulations for the Grand Slam, the world's four biggest annual tennis tournaments, is "the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match," the organizer said. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion has been informed that repeat violations of the media obligations could attract "tougher sanctions," such as default from the tournament, and the trigger of "a major offense investigation" that could lead to "more substantial fines" and "future Grand Slam suspensions," the organizer said. The four Grand Slam tournaments are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Osaka won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and the US Open in 2018 and 2020. END