Naomi Osaka was very honest when asked about drug testing during the final day of interviews before the start of the 2025 French Open.
Osaka was asked to elaborate on a social media post of hers in which she referenced a 05:00 anti-doping wake-up call.
‘Kind of scary’
“They’re kind of scary. Yeah, I mean, for me, anti-doping is like, I don’t have a great relationship with them, just because they always come and take blood and urine, which I don’t know if that disgusts people to say, but whatever, and my veins are, like, very notoriously hard to find.
“One person once told me it was like a Japanese thing. I don’t know if that’s accurate,” Naomi Osaka said.
“Yeah, so they come at 05:00 and stick me multiple times. Usually, they can’t find my veins, so they have three attempts to find it.
“Sometimes they can’t find it. They’re like, oops, sorry, let me try this arm, let me try this arm, let me try this arm. I always have to tell them, hey, my playing arm is my right arm, I prefer the left.
“And today was kind of scary because the last year I was here they also came at 05:00, and the lady couldn’t find my veins at all. I had, like, huge bruises on my arms for a while. Thankfully it wasn’t the same lady.”
First up for Naomi Osaka is 10th-seed Paula Badosa of Spain on Monday afternoon.
Hopefully, the match, regardless of the outcome, will be less painful than providing samples for drug testing.
Dave Marshall is covering the 2025 French Open in Paris exclusively for The South African website
Can you imagine being woken up at 05:00 to be jabbed by a needle can’t be much fun?
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