"I'm proud of what I did" - Osaka reveals other athletes applauded her decision to raise awareness for mental health

Naomi Osaka will make her return to the WTA circuit this week at the Western & Southern Open, following a hiatus following the French Open.

The World No.2 has been under the spotlight as she continues to raise mental health awareness for athletes. having been battling depression and anxiety herself. Although Osaka opted to withdraw from Paris and skip Wimbledon following her refusal to partake in press conferences, the Japanese superstar did compete at the Olympics in her home nation of Japan, where she lit the the Olympic flame.

Although the 23-year faced a lot of criticism for her decision to not engage in press conferences, she had support pouring in from numerous fans. The four-time Grand Slam champion revealed that while she was in Tokyo for the Games, she also received an outpouring of support from fellow athletes who commended her for bringing more attention to the mental health issues faced by athletes.

“I would say for me, in that moment I wasn’t really proud," Osaka said when asked about her initial thoughts on skipping the Grand Slams. "I felt like it was something I needed to do for myself.

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“More than anything, I felt like I holed up in my house for a couple of weeks, and I was a little bit embarrassed to go out because I didn’t know if people were looking at me in a different way than they usually did before.

“I think the biggest eye-opener was going to the Olympics and having other athletes come up to me and say that they were really glad that I did what I did. So after all that, yeah, I’m proud of what I did, and I think it was something that needed to be done.”