"Why would I keep pushing through it when I can confront it and fix it" - Naomi Osaka speaks on her long battle with mental health issues

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka opened up about her fight against mental health problems, stating that she feels it is admissible for people to be weak and have mental struggles.

The former World No.1 has long been battling anxiety and depression. She has had to withdraw from several tournaments owing to the same. Meanwhile, she has been receiving a lot of support from the public and players within the sport for stepping up and raising her voice on the matter.

In a recent appearance on The Late Show, Osaka spoke about her journey so far and about how one can cautiously deal with mental health issues rather than panicking. The 25-year-old stated that she was taught to "work through the problems," which she initially deemed to be a valuable lesson but later realized that it should be "confronted and fixed" before continuing the journey.

"I think for me, I've just always been taught to kind of like stick it out or like work through it and I think that's a very valuable lesson because it has gotten me through a lot of things in life," she conveyed. "But there was just a point where I thought to myself like 'why?', you know! And not in a negative way.

"If I am feeling this way, why would I keep pushing through it, when I can kind of confront it and fix it and then continue on my journey."

The four-time Grand Slam champion has made it clear that she does not want to rush things in her eagerness to return to action soon. Osaka suffered an abdominal illness in September as well, which hindered her participation in several events.