PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Naomi Osaka's retirement from the French Open has once again brought athletes' mental health problems into the spotlight. Wang Qiang, a Chinese player who has just qualified for the second round at the French Open women's singles, also talked about this topic in a post-match interview, saying that as an athlete, she really hopes that the outside world can "have more understanding and support".
Infographic: Wang Qiang at the post-match press conference. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Bai Xue)
"In fact, I am also a little worried about the mental health of Chinese players, because of the epidemic, it was not easy to leave the stadium for a long time last year and come back. Playing abroad this year, floating outside for a long time, if you can't win the ball all the time, it's really uncomfortable. Wang Qiang said.
Turning to the 2021 calendar, Wang Qiang's first race was the Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates in early January, and since then, she has been participating in various races abroad non-stop. However, Wang Qiang, who returned to the international arena after more than half a year, was not in a good state, and many of the races were "round trips". In fact, before the last Parma Open, Wang Qiang had only won 4 singles games in the 11 tournaments he had participated in this year. At the Parma Open, Wang Qiang suddenly rebounded and made it all the way to the final, although he lost to the American Player Gauff in the end, but the runner-up result was satisfactory enough.
Infographic: Wang Qiang in the game. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Aurelian Maurisar)
"We will actually have higher requirements than the outside world, so I really hope that everyone will understand and support us more." Wang Qiang said. In the first round of the French Open, Wang Qiang, with the first set to lose one set, won two consecutive sets to defeat Chinese Taipei's Xie Shuwei in 2:6, 6:4, 7:5, and her opponent in the next round was Gao Fu, who had just defeated herself in Parma.
The biggest news so far at this French Open is undoubtedly the retirement of Naomi Osaka, the second seed in women's singles. The four-time Grand Slam champion, who did not attend the post-match press conference after the first round of matches, said she had been plagued by psychological depression for a long time since the 2018 US Open, and she was very nervous and stressed every time she answered reporters' questions, so she made the decision not to participate in the post-match press conference. The organizing committee believed that Naomi Osaka had not fulfilled her obligations as a player and issued a $15,000 fine to him, and the four Grand Slam tournaments also jointly issued a statement saying that if Naomi Osaka continued to boycott the press conference, she would likely face more severe penalties.
Infographic: Naomi Osaka in the game. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Aurelian Maurisar)
In the end, Naomi Osaka chose to retire. She issued a statement on the evening of the 31st to announce her decision and said that she would stay away from the field for a while.
Text Editor: Liu Yang
New media editors: interns Shi Jian and Zhao Jiantong
Proofreader: Yu Sihui
Issued: Peng Dong
Copyright belongs to Xinhua News Agency And may not be reproduced without permission