‘Thank you for the love’: After backing from Will Smith and Lewis Hamilton, Naomi Osaka breaks silence on quitting French Open

Tennis sensation Naomi Osaka has broken her silence after leaving the French Open in a row over her media boycott, taking to her favored platform of Instagram after winning support from high-profile backers including Will Smith.

World number two Osaka abruptly fled the tournament on Friday amid a whirlwind of highly public debate, including a fine and threats of bans from future tournaments in a lengthy letter co-signed by all four Grand Slam showpieces on the tennis calendar.

Just as the accusations of attention-seeking, bullying, sexism and even racism seemed to escalate, Osaka issued a statement on social media apologizing for the saga and revealing that she was leaving Paris in order to further protect her mental health.

In a shorter message days later, Osaka told her millions of followers: “I just want to thank you for all the love.

“I have not often got in touch lately, but I wanted to drop in here and tell all of you that I really appreciate it.”

Osaka might be disappointed if she had hoped that her shock decision would quieten the clamor. Icons Serena and Venus Williams are among the players to have enthusiastically backed her, though, in the days that have followed, as well as actor and sports fan Will Smith.

“Hey, Naomi,” wrote Hollywood superstar Smith in a handwriten note to Osaka. “You're right. They are not. I'm with you.”

Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is also no stranger to media controversy, was more elaborate in his explanation of his sympathy for the Japanese ace, calling the “backlash” against her “ridiculous.”

“People were not taking into account that she is a human being,” said Hamilton. “She was saying: ‘I am not well enough to do this right now.’

“Someone talking about their personal mental health and then being fined for it was not cool. They could definitely have handled it better.

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“I hope they take a deep dive into that and find a better way to navigate it in future. As athletes, we are pushing ourselves to the limit, we are on the edge and we are only human beings.”

Speaking in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Hamilton backed Osaka over her support for social justice initiatives and campaigns such as Black Lives Matter, and said that, at 22, her predicament was not “the best” for a relative newcomer to the pinnacle of sport.

“Naomi is an incredible athlete and human being and her activism has been so impactful,” he said admiringly. “But when you are at such a young age with so much weight on her shoulders, it is inevitable what happened.

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“She was incredibly brave and it is now about asking questions of those in power, making them think about how they react because the way they reacted with the fine was not good.

“When you are young, you are thrown into the limelight and the spotlight, and it weighs heavily on you. Most of us are not prepared.

“I have learned the hard way and made many a mistake. It can be daunting in front of a camera. It is not the easiest thing to do, particularly if you are an introvert and you struggle under those kinds of pressures.

“When I was young, I was thrown into the pit and I was not given any guidance or support. I was never prepared to be thrown in front of the camera or guided as to what to look out for and how to navigate through it.”

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