Former tennis player Patrick McEnroe compared the news this week that Naomi Osaka will withdraw from the Rogers Cup in Toronto after a night of partying to waking up in the hospital with “a punch to the gut” as he fielded questions for The Sports Quotient.
Osaka, 19, one of only three non-grand slam winners at the U.S. Open last month, posted a racy Snapchat video to social media, took some heat and is now withdrawing from her Rogers Cup opening-round match on Tuesday with a wrist injury.
“It’s a little surprising,” McEnroe told FS1’s Connor Maynard. “She’s one of the most respected players out there.”
Even so, McEnroe said, the timing wasn’t great for Osaka, a viral sensation in Japan who had already broken through on the Tour.
“The bit that was the most surprising to me is that she was already kind of on the ropes,” McEnroe said. “She had never really won anything in her career. She was going to probably be seeded. She already had had a couple of losses. I guess the timing is kind of surprising. Now, the situation probably has been blown way out of proportion…It’s just one of those unfortunate things.”