PARIS: Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 at the French Open for skipping a post-match news conference after her first-round victory on Sunday and threatened by all four Grand Slam tournaments with stiffer penalties, including being defaulted, if she continues to avoid meeting with the media.

The fine will come out of Osaka’s prize money and was announced in a joint statement from the president of the French tennis federation, Gilles Moretton, and the heads of the other majors.

The statement said Osaka has been advised that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences.

Citing the rule book, the statement notes that tougher sanctions from repeat violations could include default being disqualified from the tournament and the trigger of a major offense investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions.

Osaka vowed in a Twitter post on Wednesday she would not be doing the news conferences at Roland Garros. That didn’t mean she was able to entirely elude any question about her problems playing on red clay.

Osaka returned to Roland Garros after skipping the trip last time, turning in a mistake-filled 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over 63rd-ranked Patricia Maria Tig at Court Philippe Chatrier on Day 1 in Paris.

After the 2020 French Open was pushed to a September start with a limit of 1,000 spectators per day because of the coronavirus outbreak, things were closer to normal Sunday: It was a sun-kissed May day and more than 5,000 fans permitted, with a delay of only a week this year due to Covid-19 concerns.

While not quite back to its packed pre-pandemic self, Roland Garros did bubble with cheers and tennis.

Other results perhaps were more newsworthy than a straight-set win by the second-ranked Osaka: three-time major champion Angelique Kerber’s third straight first-round loss in Paris, for example but the events that unfolded after the Japanese superstar’s match were of high interest.

That’s because of Osaka’s stated intention to stay away from media sessions. What remained unclear was whether she would participate in the perfunctory exchange of pleasantries with on-court interviewers who lob softball questions so spectators can hear something from match winners.

As it turned out, Osaka did go ahead with that chat with former player Fabrice Santoro, who is hardly a journalist and kindly offered to help Osaka by carrying the flowers she was given by the tournament.

Santoro actually did raise the topic of the event’s surface, noting that Osaka’s Grand Slam titles only have come on hard courts.

She has won the Australian Open twice, including this year, and the US Open twice, including last year. But she never has been past the third round at the French Open.

“I would say it’s a work in progress,” Osaka said about her game on clay. “Hopefully the more I play, the better it will get.”

Players at Grand Slam tournaments are required to attend news conferences if requested to do so; refusing is punishable by fines of up to $20,000, which is not much of a big deal to Osaka, the world’s highest-earning female athlete thanks to endorsement deals totaling tens of millions of dollars.

“It’s her own choice. I think she’s capable of making her own choices and obviously she will do always what’s best for her,” Tig said. “I think that’s whats happening now. It’s her choice of doing what she feels is best for her.

As for her impression of Osaka’s on-court ability on clay, Tig offered this assessment: “If she wins, shell get used to it. She can play as good on clay as she plays on hard courts.”

Osaka showed how Sunday: controlling points with her attacking game. She won 31 of 35 points when her first serve landed in and accumulated 39 winners more than twice as many as Tig’s 18.

Osaka next faces 102nd-ranked Ana Bogdan, who swept aside Italian qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-3.

The 26th-seeded Kerber was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Anhelina Kalinina, a qualifier from Ukraine ranked 139th and making her tournament debut.

Roland Garros thus remains the only Grand Slam title that Kerber hasn’t won: She was the champion at the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2018.

Petra Kvitova, a semi-finalist in 2012 and 2020, saved a match point before seeing off Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

The 11th seeded Czech, a two-time Wimbledon champion, blitzed 43 winners but served up 11 double faults against her 125th-ranked opponent.

Fresh from her first career clay court title in Madrid, Belarusian third seed Aryna Sabalenka eased past Croatian qualifier Ana Konjuh 6-4, 6-3.

Also, 2019 Australian Open semifinalist and 2020 French Open quarter-finalist Danielle Collins defeated Wang Xiyu 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

In men’s action, 12th seeded Pablo Carreno Busta beat Norbert Gombos 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, and 27th-seeded Fabio Fognini broke a racket along the way to eliminating French wild-card entry Gregoire Barrere 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles (first round): Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia) bt 25-Dan Evans (Great Britain) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; 23-Karen Khachanov (Russia) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; Henri Laaksonen (Switzerland) bt Yannick Hanfmann (Germany) 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; 11-Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) bt Mario Vilella Martinez (Spain) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; 27-Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt Gregoire Barrere (France) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) bt Gilles Simon (France) 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); Pablo Andujar (Spain) bt 4-Dominic Thiem (Austria) 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Enzo Couacaud (France) bt Egor Gerasimov (Belarus) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-3; 12-Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) bt Norbert Gombos (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Guido Pella (Argentina) bt Daniel Elahi Galan (Colombia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.

Women’s singles (first round): Danielle Collins (US) bt Wang Xiyu (China) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) bt 26-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; 21-Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) bt Elsa Jacquemot (France) 6-4, 6-1; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-1, 6-0; 11-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Greet Minnen (Belgium) 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Clara Tauson (Denmark) bt Ekaterine Gorgodze (Georgia) 6-4, 6-2; 31-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt Christina McHale (US) 6-4, 6-0; Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) bt Kateryna Kozlova (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-4; 3-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) bt Ana Konjuh (Croatia) 6-4, 6-3; 33-Paula Badosa (Spain) bt Lauren Davis (US) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) bt Clara Burel (France) 6-3, 7-6 (10-8); Ana Bogdan (Romania) bt Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Italy) 6-1, 6-3; 2-Naomi Osaka (Japan) bt Patricia Maria Tig (Romania) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2021