Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka are sitting out Wimbledon, leaving the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament without two of the sport's biggest stars as it returns after being cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nadal, a two-time champion at the All England Club, announced via a series of social media posts on Friday that he would also miss the Tokyo Olympics to rest and recover “after listening to my body.”
“The goal,” the 35-year-old Spaniard said, “is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy.”
Osaka’s agent, Stuart Duguid, wrote in an email that the four-time Grand Slam champion does plan to head to the Summer Games after skipping Wimbledon.
“She is taking some personal time with friends and family,” Duguid wrote. “She will be ready for the Olympics and is excited to play in front of her home fans.”
Osaka is a 23-year-old who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father; the family moved to the United States when she was 3 and she is still based there.
Osaka has been ranked No. 1 and is currently No. 2; she is the highest-earning female athlete and was the 2020 AP Female Athlete of the Year. She is 14-3 this season, including a title at the Australian Open in February.
Last month, Osaka was fined $15,000 when she didn’t speak to reporters after her first-round victory at the French Open. The next day, Osaka pulled out of the tournament entirely, saying she experiences “huge waves of anxiety” before meeting with the media and revealing she has “suffered long bouts of depression.”
In a statement posted on Twitter at the time, she said she would “take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans.”
Osaka has played at Wimbledon three times, twice exiting in the third round and losing in the first round in 2019.
Wimbledon, which was called off in 2020 for the first time since World War II because of Covid-19 concerns, begins main-draw play on June 28. The Olympic tennis competition opens on July 24.