She didn’t lose, but Osaka did grind through a tough first set against Bouzkova, battling to find her rhythm against the hard-hitting Czech. But after splitting the first eight games, Osaka started pushing Bouzkova deep into the back of the court with her clean, powerful strokes and, not surprisingly, also started winning most of the important points. She said that they caused too much mental stress, and that she would pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines instead. Within days, French Open organizers, with the support of leaders of the other three Grand Slam events, threatened to kick her out of the tournament. On Sunday, a little more than 24 hours before her opening match at the U.S. Open, another pretournament declaration arrived.

Source: International New York Times August 31, 2021 12:00 UTC