Tennis Champ Naomi Osaka Returns Home To L.A. After Dropping Out Of French Open Due To Mental Health Struggles
Naomi Osaka is back in Los Angeles following her devastating decision to withdraw from the French Open after struggling with her mental health.
The 23-year-old tennis champ looked tense as she was photographed for the first time after returning home.
Wearing a tie-dye Mamacita sweatsuit, Osaka showed her support for Kobe Bryant's family with the two-piece when she arrived at her $7 million mansion on Tuesday.
Keeping her mask tightly around her mouth, the tennis star sported Beats headphones, clearly attempting to tune out the chaos surrounding her.
Osaka -- who is currently the highest paid female tennis player -- flew from Paris and landed in L.A. just one day after dropping out of the open.
"I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," Osaka revealed on Monday in a lengthy Instagram post.
She went on to explain that she's an introvert who has experienced "long bouts of depression."
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Osaka also revealed she suffers from social anxiety and has struggled with coping, especially in front of cameras.
Her decision to drop out of the tournament came just hours after being fined $15,000 for refusing to participate in media interviews.
Four Grand Slam organizers responded by warning Osaka she'd face "more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions" if she continued her boycott.
After making her mental health struggle known, athletes like fellow tennis champ Serena Williams, NBA superstar Steph Curry, and NFL player Russell Wilson expressed their support.
Piers Morgan decided to slam the young tennis star and accuse her of taking a page out of Meghan Markle's mental health playbook.
The British commentator wrote a cringe-worthy article in which he alleged Osaka was using her mental health to get out of press requirements.
"One thing's very clear: this has got nothing to do with mental health," Piers wrote in response to Naomi's decision to leave the open.
Calling her mental health post an "orgy of narcissistic twaddle," Piers claimed, "What Osaka really means is that she doesn't want to face the media if she hasn't played well, because the beastly journalists might actually dare to criticize her performance, and she's not going to 'subject' herself to 'people that doubt me.'"