Tennis star Naomi Osaka promises to donate for the relief and restoration of Haiti after a massive earthquake caused destruction and has claimed at least 1941 lives so far.
After a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti, the Caribbean nation was further hit by a torrential downpour, making it further difficult for survivors already coping with catastrophe.
A similar horrific earthquake had occurred in 2010 that had killed 200,000 people and was successively followed by a deadly cholera outbreak.
On Saturday night, Naomi tweeted her decision to donate the prize money from this week’s U.S. Open tune-up tournament in Ohio.
“Hurts to see all the damage that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break. I’m about to play in a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors’ blood is strong we’ll keep rising”, wrote Naomi in her Tweet. Osaka, who has a Haitian father and a Japanese mother, has an opening-round bye in Cincinnati. She is to face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Coco Gauff and qualifier Hsieh Su-Wei.
Naomi Breaks down again during the Press conference.
During a news conference, Osaka became emotional on a question about Haiti and had to step away for a few minutes before she resumed.
Report Courtney Nguyen if WTA insider had asked Osaka about her training and her promise to donate any prize money she receives from Tournament.
The press conference was Osama’s first since announcing in May that she won’t be speaking to the press at the French Open, citing mental health concerns.
Osaka was fined $15,000 for skipping the press conference and had later pulled out of Tournament.
The incident had started debates around the compulsion of Press conferences and mental health issues with players.
