{"id":27054,"date":"2020-08-26T23:29:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T03:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=27054"},"modified":"2020-08-26T23:29:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T03:29:14","slug":"western-and-southern-open-postpones-thursdays-matches-in-racial-justice-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/08\/26\/western-and-southern-open-postpones-thursdays-matches-in-racial-justice-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Western and Southern Open Postpones Thursday&#8217;s Matches in Racial Justice Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following WTA star <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/2020\/08\/26\/naomi-osaka-to-boycott-western-southern-open-semifinal-match-in-protest-over-racial-justice\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Naomi Osaka<\/a>&#8216;s decision to join the racial justice boycott and strike actions taking part across sports including the NBA, after the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin police, the Western and Southern Open has opted to postpone all of Thursday&#8217;s ATP and WTA semifinal matches until Friday. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/josemorgado\/status\/1298821109320691712\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joint statement<\/a> released late Wednesday night by the tournament, the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, and USTA the governing bodies of the sport stated that tennis is &#8220;taking a stance against racial inequality and social injustice..&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.15752-9\/118379956_617735168914882_5302831317139602528_n.png?_nc_cat=102&amp;_nc_sid=b96e70&amp;_nc_ohc=cdbiZDtXUEUAX87LlWt&amp;_nc_oc=AQljIiV89G2FbBGl9iZh05fwpqtbq9wHOFxh9OhqVOKFJZnjGG6GnnvcGAt-WJtf0vE&amp;_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-1.xx&amp;oh=e77b39a8ed708c7a9303d648ea3809cd&amp;oe=5F6BCB2E\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After his quarterfinal win, Canada&#8217;s Milos Raonic <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenRothenberg\/status\/1298805999759958017\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expressed support<\/a> for Osaka&#8217;s decision to not play her semifinal match against Elise Mertens, and others in the tennis world have done the same including former Grand Slam champions Rennae Stubbs, Billie Jean King, and Andy Murray<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A brave &amp; impactful move by \u2066\u2066<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/naomiosaka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@naomiosaka<\/a>\u2069, in support of the protest movement moving through the sports world. <\/p>\n<p>She was to play in the semis tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Athletes using platforms for good means so much. <\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t remain silent.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BlackLivesMatter<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Tro3SlRXT8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Tro3SlRXT8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BillieJeanKing\/status\/1298812323767947269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/naomiosaka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@naomiosaka<\/a> has taken a stand and I cannot be more proud of our sport and her!!!! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WTA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WTA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atptour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@atptour<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@usta<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rennae Stubbs \u2648\ufe0f (@rennaestubbs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rennaestubbs\/status\/1298795297557155840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Andy Murray in support of Naomi Osaka\u2019s decision to not play her semi-final tomorrow in protest. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vgKuzGSeVb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vgKuzGSeVb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReemAbulleil\/status\/1298818084552290305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>More statements and responses are expected in the coming hours and days from the world of tennis sport, including from Osaka herself, and it is still uncertain how this postponement of play impacts the upcoming US Open, which is taking place at the same venue in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1268931256\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1268931256?et=DTeNKr-0QrpBpYVZpkoHvw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=aY3eI-aeAffzEsH9rO9Bk3jqtWfKZDgzN2A3vvsuQeI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following WTA star Naomi Osaka&#8216;s decision to join the racial justice boycott and strike actions taking part across sports including the NBA, after the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin police, the Western and Southern Open has opted to postpone all of Thursday&#8217;s ATP and WTA semifinal matches until Friday. In a joint statement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":27062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3,2,11519,8,4],"tags":[10010,11786,259,11867,11855,1412,60,20,476,22,447,304,11866,43,1733,393,1716,3582,364],"class_list":["post-27054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-atp","category-featured","category-tennis","category-us-open","category-wta","tag-2020-us-open","tag-2020-western-and-southern-open","tag-atp-tour","tag-black-lives-matter-sports","tag-black-lives-matter-tennis","tag-elise-mertens","tag-johanna-konta","tag-milos-raonic","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-roberto-bautista-agut","tag-stefanos-tsitsipas","tag-tennis-jacob-blake","tag-us-open","tag-usta","tag-victoria-azarenka","tag-western-southern-open","tag-western-and-southern-open","tag-wta-tour"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}