Naomi Osaka said on Sunday that while she has spent her entire life waiting to compete at the Olympics, the risks of holding the Tokyo Games amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic should continue to be carefully discussed.
Opinion surveys have shown that most Japanese oppose holding the games this summer due to concern about the coronavirus, and Tokyo itself is currently under a state of emergency in an attempt to slow a rise in infections.
Osaka, who is No. 2 in the women's tennis rankings and one of Japan's top athletes, said staging the games should remain a topic of discussion as long as the subject was "making people very uncomfortable."