Osaka's battle with mental health, an insight into the tennis star’s journey

Former world number one Naomi Osaka has opened up about how hate comments on social media made her cry during her early days in tennis. The 26-year-old has had a very successful career at the highest level in women’s tennis, where she has already won as many as four Grand Slam titles.

Osaka, despite her success on the court, has been very vocal about how mental health remains a big problem for athletes in every sport all over the world. She has even taken time off after struggling with mental health concerns. The Osaka-born star, who was named after the city where she was born, has opened up about how mental health has affected her during her playing days.

Osaka revealed that hate comments on the social media platforms made her cry after her first triumph at the US Open back in 2018 when she defeated the former world number one America’s Serena Willimas in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-4.

“Sometimes they're quite hurtful with the things they say,” she said. “I want to believe I try to believe that these people really don't understand the impact that these hurtful comments can have on athletes. They don't know you, they don't understand what's behind your hard work but it's true that when you receive these comments, it can definitely like have an impact on your on your mental health. After I won my first US Open, I went on social media and the night after I won. I was just reading a lot of people saying that I didn't deserve to win. I remember I started crying a lot. I still think about it a lot. It's crazy they [people] cannot imagine all the hard work behind and like what all the sacrifice you did probably.”

Osaka recently took part in the Paris Olympics where he journey came to an end in the first round as she lost to the former world number one Germany’s Angelique Kerber in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-3. She is now set to taker part in the Canadian Open where she will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the round of 64 clash on Tuesday.