Naomi Osaka will defend her title on the U.S. Open, organisers mentioned on Wednesday, after she withdrew from this yr’s French Open and Wimbledon on psychological well being grounds.
Japan’s Osaka surprised the tennis world when she stop the claycourt main in Paris in Might following her first-round match after being fined and threatened with disqualification when she refused to attend obligatory post-match press conferences.
The world quantity two, who mentioned she had social anxiousness, additionally skipped Wimbledon however is scheduled to play on the Tokyo Olympics after which in Montreal subsequent month.
Osaka shall be a part of a girls’s discipline on the U.S. Open that will even embrace world primary Ash Barty, who lifted her second main title at Wimbledon earlier this month.
A complete of 15 main winners, together with Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza, are scheduled to characteristic within the girls’s discipline at Flushing Meadows.
Within the males’s part, former champions Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — presently tied for the boys’s report of 20 Grand Slam singles titles — will resume their quest for extra silverware in New York.
World primary Djokovic, recent from his third main triumph of 2020 at Wimbledon, is aiming to turn out to be the primary man since Australia’s Rod Laver in 1969 to finish a calendar yr sweep.
One other former champion, Andy Murray, who’s presently ranked 104, didn’t make the primary draw however stays the primary participant on the alternate checklist.
The U.S. Open shall be held with 100% fan capability from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12.
