New York: Naomi Osaka said that using words like “without education” and “classless” to criticize a black tennis player was one of the worst things to say, since the debate unleashed on an acts heated between Taylor Towsend and Jelena Ostopenko in the US Open on Thursday.
Towsend, who is black, exceeded the champion of the 2017 France Ostopenko 7-5 6-1 in a hard second round battle a day before, but the real tension occurred shortly after the game point when the couple verbally crashed on the network, with the Latvia repeatedly moving their finger to the American.
Towsend revealed part of the exchange during his interview on the court, after which he said at a press conference that Ostopenko would have to answer if there were “racial nuances” to the altercation.
Ostapenko said on Instagram later that his anger arose from Towsend’s refusal to apologize after winning a point at a fundamental moment when his ball cut the network and stayed at stake, accusing the American of being “disrespectful.”
The Latvian added in another statement that he had never been racist in his life, but Osaka intervened, saying that the Ostapeko words used during the altercation were in bad taste.
“It is one of the worst things you can tell a black tennis player in a major white sport,” said Grand Slam champion four times, Osaka.
“I know Taylor and I know how hard he has worked and I know how intelligent it is, so it is the furthest from without education or something.”
Osaka, born of a Japanese mother and Haitian father, has been an open defender of the Black Lives Matter movement both in the United States, where he lives and in Japan. She was praised for supporting the campaign during her career towards the title of Flushing Meadows in 2020.
The 27 -year -old used her platform to highlight racial injustice in the United States to a broader audience by using different black masks, each with the name of a dead African -American in recent years, before each of her seven games.
“If you really ask me about Ostapeko’s story, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing he said. I’m going to be honest,” Osaka continued with a smile.
“I think it was bad weather and said to the worst possible person. And I don’t know if she knows the story of it in the United States.
“I know he will never say that in his life. But yes, it was simply terrible. That is really bad.”
Returning to the main cause of the controversy, Osaka said he would not mind whether an opponent apologize or not by a net cord.
“I would definitely care to the point that I would affect me so much that I got very angry,” Osaka said.
“It depends on the person who apologizes or not, but if he is really close, I can see why he does not.”
