Naomi Osaka wins 'Best Athlete, Women's sports' award at 2021 ESPYS

The Japanese player has been largely out of the spotlight ever since she pulled out of the 2021 French Open amidst the press conference fiasco. The Player did not make a public appearance since then and her first came last night. The 29th edition of the awards was held in New York City and Osaka won in the Best Women's Athlete category.

She appeared in person to accept the award and said:

"Hello everybody, I just really wanna not say a really long speech cause I'm a bit nervous. Thank you ESPN, thank you all the supporters, I know this year has been, it's hasn't really finished, it's been really tough for a lot of us and for me. I just wanna say I really love you guys. It's really cool to be surrounded by all these incredible athletes. Thank you so much and I really appreciate it."

Osaka will return to tennis at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games which will begin later this month.