Olympia 2021: everything okay with Naomi? Osaka match postponed
Japan's gold hope Naomi Osaka will, contrary to the original plan, not open the Olympic tennis tournament after all. The match of the 23-year-old four-time Grand Slam winner against the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo was removed from the program for Saturday
by SID / red
last edit: Jul 23, 2021, 12:08 pm
Instead, the first match on the center court of the Ariake Tennis Park (11.00 a.m. local time / 4.00 a.m. CEST) will be the game between Mona Barthel (Neumünster) and last year's French Open winner Iga Swiatek (Poland).
Reasons for the postponement of the Osaka match were initially not known. The winner of the Australian Open and the US Open is making her comeback in Tokyo after a two-month break as a result of her withdrawal from the French Open. Osaka had revealed that she repeatedly struggled with depression.
The four-time major winner is in second place in Tokyo. Wimbledon winner Ashleigh Barty is the tournament favorite. Osaka could face Swiatek in the quarter-finals, followed by Elina Svitolina or Karolina Pliskova .