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| Naomi Osaka walks onto the court wearing a mask, headphones and a Black Live Matter shirt. |
UPDATED Aug. 29 10 a.m. to include Naomi Osaka's injury and withdrawal.
When Naomi Osaka walked onto the court Friday, she wore a Black Lives Matter shirt with a raised fist on the front. She removed the t-shirt before she began play in the semi-finals at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at peace with her protest against racial injustice.
She fought her way to Friday's women's singles final while garnering more attention because of her temporary withdrawal Thursday, has withdrawn from Saturday's championship match, citing a hamstring injury suffered in her semifinal.
Because of Osaka's withdrawal, former No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka was declared champion.
"I'm sorry to have to withdraw today with an injury," Osaka said in a statement Saturday morning. "I pulled my left hamstring yesterday in the second set tiebreak and it has not recovered overnight as I had hoped. This has been an emotional week and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support."
Osaka's injury draws into question whether she will play in next week's U.S. Open, which begins Monday. Hamstring injuries take a long time to heal.
Osaka qualified for the finals by beating Elise Mertens, 6-2 and 7-6, after a near sleepless night after announcing her intention to withdraw from the tournament because of the shooting of another Black man, Jacob Blake. Her announcement forced the tournament officials to pause the entire tourney for day and allowed Osaka to reconsider her withdrawal.
“I was (and am) ready and prepared to concede the match to my opponent,” Osaka said.Osaka's action drew strong support from tennis legends.
"I am very proud of everyone in tennis for stepping up and I am very proud of sports for leading in these challenging times.," Billie Jean King told Tennis.com.
"It is so important and energizing to see the men and women together on this issue and to show the world we are in this together. We can never let up. We have a platform, we are visible and we must keep the pedal to the metal to keep fighting for equality and justice. Through the opportunities presented to us in sports, we can move the needle and we can bring about change. We have to do this.
King's contemporary and chief rival, Martina Navratolova agreed.
“I can’t say enough good things about Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff. They have the power to really impact the world off the court, thanks to their on-court exploits. I think they’re going to use it and magnify it. Of course, so much of this is being driven by the players who are affected by it. This is a great step forward in social justice,” she told Tennis.com.
After her win over Mertens, Osaka said, "I felt like I needed to raise my voice. And if withdrawing would cause the most stir that was something I would have to do."
Osaka decided after her quarterfinal win over Anett Kontavelt Wednesday, she made the decision not to play on Thursday."I didn't even think it would be that big of a deal," Osaka told ESPN's Chris McKendry on Friday. "I thought I would withdraw from the tournament and make a statement, whatever. I always thought in my mind it would be nice if someone started something in tennis. I was just waiting and waiting, then realized maybe I would have to be the one to take the first step."
"Honestly, when I posted it [the original statement], I just thought it would make rounds in the tennis circle," Osaka said. "So if I'm being completely honest, it was a bit frightening for me, and I had to turn off my phone because I get really anxious whenever I see people talking about me."
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