Tennis star Naomi Osaka will not play in her semifinal match at the Cincinnati Masters in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake and other Black people in the US by police, she said in a statement posted on Twitter.

“And as a black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis,” she wrote.

The announcement comes as teams the NBA, MLB, and MLS postpone their games to protest the police shootings.

comment COMMENT NOW