Naomi Osaka serves against Amanda Anisimova during their first-round match Monday at the French Open at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. Osaka was eliminated with a 7-5, 6-4 loss. AP
PARIS — A year ago, Naomi Osaka left the French Open of her own volition, never beaten on the court but determining that she needed to pull out before the second round to stand up for herself and protect her mind.
On Monday, Osaka departed Roland Garros against her will – via a 7-5, 6-4 loss in the first round to 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, who is seeded 27th and also won their contest at the Australian Open in January – after taking a painkiller to try to deal with a troublesome left Achilles tendon. She tried to stretch the tendon by tugging on her neon yellow shoes at changeovers or by squatting to flex her lower leg between points.
Osaka was unable to summon the serving or court coverage on which her game is based, in part because her practice time and recent match play have been limited. The four-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1-ranked player, who is now ranked No. 38 and was unseeded in Paris, double-faulted twice to end games and called the outcome “disappointing.”
Yet she also provided a measure of the way in which her mindset might have changed since her previous appearance at the clay-court major tournament, when she decided not to speak to the media at all (drawing a $15,000 fine and threat of further punishment, which prompted her withdrawal), saying that stance was because of anxiety and depression she hadn’t previously revealed. Her openness back then helped spark a wider awareness of, and conversation about, the importance of mental health.
“I’m really happy with myself,” Osaka said Monday, “because I know the emotions that I left France (with) last year.”
Barbora Krejcikova also was aware of the wide spectrum of emotions she went through herself at the French Open from 2021 – when she was a Grand Slam singles champion for the first time – to 2022, when she joined Osaka in departing in the first round.
Krejcikova was seeded No. 2, but she was coming off an injured right elbow that kept her off the tour since February, and her first match back began with a 4-0 lead before unraveling into a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 exit against Diane Parry, a 19-year-old from France who is ranked 97th and entered the day with a 1-5 career record in Grand Slam matches.
Krejcikova said she “hit the wall” early in the second set and never recovered, becoming just the third woman in French Open history to be defeated in her opening match a year after winning the title.
There weren’t any other such significant results on Day 2, when the women’s winners included No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion; and other past major champs Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andrescu.
U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu’s French Open debut was as difficult as can be for more than a set before she emerged with a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1 victory over Czech qualifier Linda Noskova. The 12th-seeded Raducanu trailed by a set, then was down a break in the second set twice, before coming back to win in more than 2 1/2 hours against a player who was trying to pull off the sort of upset Raducanu did over and over again at Flushing Meadows last year.
In the men’s draw, Rafael Nadal and all of his aches and pains reached the second round . The 13-time champion at Roland Garros beat Jordan Thompson 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Nadal won his men’s-record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open but he has only recently returned from a rib injury that has bothered him since March. He has also been dealing with chronic pain in his left foot. That kept him out of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, and bothered him again during a loss on clay in Rome this month.
Nadal will next face Corentin Moutet, a French wild-card entry who beat 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Novak Djokovic’s first Grand Slam match in 7 1/2 months went about as well as possible. The No. 1-seeded Djokovic opened his title defense with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 victory in less than two hours over Yoshihito Nishioka. He improved to 18-0 for his career in the first round at Roland Garros.
About the only uncomfortable moment for Djokovic might have been when some spectators booed after he let out some yells after winning points in the second set.
In response to a reporter’s question after his win, Djokovic said he plans to defend his title at Wimbledon this year and supports the decision by the ATP men’s tour to withhold ranking points from that tournament as a show of unity among players – even though the move will negatively affect his hold on the No. 1 spot.
Djokovic called the All England Club’s ban of players from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine “a mistake,” and said Wimbledon’s organizers did a poor job of communicating about the issue. He said he thought there could have been room for a compromise but instead it is a “lose-lose situation for everyone.”
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