Naomi Osaka withdrawls from tennis tournament in support of Black Lives Matter. Photo via Flickr Creative Commons by Rob Prange June 2019
The Western & Southern Open Tennis Tournament is on a one day pause after Naomi Osaka announced she would refuse to take part in today’s semifinals, reports CBA.ca.
“Before I am a athlete, I am a Black woman,” says Osaka whose father is Haitian and mother is Japanese. The tennis star made the announcement on Twitter in both English and Japanese.
Osaka is one of a number of athletes protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot seven times at point blank range by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin near Milwaukee. The NBA cancelled yesterday’s playoff games and both the Los Angles Lakers and LA Clippers have voted to pull out of the playoffs completely-putting the entire season in jeopardy. Several Major League Baseball games were also postponed yesterday, as were games in the WNBA and MLS.
The Western and Southern Open is normally played in Cincinatti, but is being held this year in New York due to the coronavirus. Osaka had been scheduled today to compete against Elise Mertens in the semifinals today, according to The Insider.
“I don’t expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority White sport I consider that a step in the right direction.
“Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach,” Osaka wrote.
The 22 year old is considered one of the faces of tennis having one the US Open in 2018 and the Australian Open last year. She is currently the number 4 ranked player in the world.
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