Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka will not earn an Olympic medal in 2021 after she was upset by the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova.
Osaka, the second-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, lost in two sets, 6-1 and 6-4, on Tuesday. She is not the only top tennis player to get upset in the Tokyo Olympics, with top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, third-ranked, both going down before the medals.
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The loss came days after the 23-year-old tennis phenom lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. She won her first two Olympic matches in straight sets before facing off with Vondrousova in the third round.
Osaka, who grew up in the United States, was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father before moving to the U.S. when she was 3-years-old.
“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said after the match, according to CNN. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before, and for the first year (it) was a bit much. I think I’m glad with how I played, with taking that break that I had.”
This was Osaka’s first tournament since she took a hiatus from the sport for mental health reasons. She withdrew from the French Open at the end of May after dodging post-match press conferences with the media, which she was fined for at the time.
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Tuesday saw other major Olympic updates with the U.S.’s Carissa Moore becoming the first-ever women’s surfing gold medalist after she defeated Bianca Buitendag of South Africa in the final, while Alaskan teenager Lydia Jacoby won the women’s 100-meter breaststroke edging out defending champion and teammate Lilly King.
Simone Biles, one of the most accomplished gymnasts ever, also unexpectedly withdrew from the U.S. team final.
