Naomi Osaka Admits Pressure Of Olympics 'Was A Bit Much' After Loss

"I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure," the four-time Grand Slam winner said.
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Tennis star Naomi Osaka, who earned headlines for taking a mental health break from competition and post-match interviews, didn’t mince words after she lost Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics.

“How disappointed am I? I mean, I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” Osaka said, per AFP, after a straight-set defeat to Marketa Vondrousova in the third round.

The loss crushed Osaka’s hope of winning gold in her home country ― she was born in Japan and grew up in the United States. Osaka, who has won four Grand Slam singles titles, was coming off a two-month absence following her withdrawal from the French Open. She had declared she would skip press conferences to avoid questions that triggered her anxiety and later revealed that she suffered bouts of depression.

She conceded that expectations in Tokyo were a tad overwhelming.

“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” she said, according to The Associated Press. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year (it) was a bit much.”

“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation,” she added, according to CNN.

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