Naomi Osaka, the highest-paid female athlete in the world, withdrew from the French Open on Monday after a standoff with tournament officials that began last week.

The four-time champion had previously announced that she would not participate in post-match interviews at Roland Garros to protect her mental health, and kept her word after a first-round win on Sunday.

Osaka was fined $15,000 for her decision and officials from the four Grand Slam tournaments suggested that she could face outright expulsion from the French Open if she continued skipping interviews.

Before they got the chance, Osaka bowed out.

“I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer,” she wrote in a note shared on social media. “The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the U.S. Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.”

Osaka won her first title at that 2018 U.S. Open in a triumph over Serena Williams that made the Japanese player an instant star and favorite among global brands.

She’s inked sponsorship deals with many of the biggest brands in the world: Nike, Louis Vuitton, Beats, Levi’s, Sweetgreen, and several others — earning over $55 million in the past year alone, per the New York Times.

The 23-year-old said she is taking time off from tennis and did not indicate when she will return to play. Wimbledon begins in late June, two weeks after the French Open wraps up.

After a year of empty grandstands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 made its return Sunday. With 135,000 fans present, it was the largest sporting event since the start of the pandemic.

Having the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” back marked a moment of recovery for Indianapolis and the broader live sports experience.

The speedway is the largest sports venue in the world, hosting up to 400,000 fans. In a normal year, its events generate more than $510 million annually for the Indiana economy.

But even at 40% capacity for the 105th running — won by Brazilian driver Hélio Castroneves for his record-tying fourth title — the 500-mile race always has a major economic impact on the city. 

• Speedway High School pulls in nearly $20,000 from parking fees on race day. 
• Airbnb hosts earned close to $750,000 in combined supplemental income from the 2019 race. 
• Hotels in the area are more or less completely booked surrounding the race.

Last year’s purse for the race was reduced by 50%, with the winner Takuma Sato taking home $1.3 million. Castroneves pocketed $2 million on Sunday.

“Great moment for everyone. Especially after last year being so difficult with the pandemic,” Castroneves told reporters after his victory. “It’s not full percent everyone here, but very, very nice for everyone to celebrate.”

“Cyberpunk 2077,” developed and published by Poland-based CD Projekt, was riddled with bugs upon its release in December — a major surprise given the $130 million budget and eight years of development.

“This was a huge lesson for us, one we will never forget,” said Adam Kiciński, president and co-CEO of CD Projekt.

Swift backlash ensued, but 13.7 million copies were still sold through the end of 2020, making it one of the most successful titles in CD Projekt’s history.

That momentum did not carry through the first quarter of 2021.

CD Projekt reported that net profits fell to $8.84 million in the first three months of the year, a 65% decline.

The reason? All of those efforts to patch and fix “Cyberpunk 2077” are expensive.

“Lower than usual net profitability is mainly due to continuing depreciation of Cyberpunk 2077 development expenditures, work on updating the game, and R&D activities related to future projects,” said company CFO Piotr Nielubowicz.

First-quarter sales weren’t as dismal as profits, though they were unremarkably flat — up only 2% year-over-year to $53.9 million.

However, CD Projekt did see “record-breaking positive cash flows.” The company’s holdings nearly doubled to approximately $517 million in the quarter.

The next step is to attempt to make “Cyberpunk” a true hit despite its initial setbacks. Gabriel Amatangelo, who’s worked on “Dragon Age” and “Star Wars” titles, was appointed as the game’s director last week.

When the NFL season kicks off in September, the fans will be back but the paper tickets won’t. 

The league is mandating that all tickets be digital for the 2021 season, codifying a shift that accelerated under the pandemic.

Instituted as a safety measure, mobile ticketing also helps the league track the secondary market, cut down on fraud, and target fans for marketing purposes.

The NFL is eager to maximize revenue after a $4 billion drop from $16 billion in 2019 to $12 billion last year. Attendance dropped from 17 million to just 1.2 million, as well.

While the NFL may be the first league to require digital ticketing, the writing has been on the wall.

• The universities of Michigan and Connecticut will exclusively use digital tickets with limited exceptions for their sporting events.
• Many teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and Tennessee Titans are also going cashless at stadium concession stands.
• Barclays Center recently unveiled a contactless shop in partnership with American Express in which fans can scan a card at the entrance and be charged for whatever items they walk out with.

All of the digital transactions allow for expansive data collection on fans.

Thirty out of 32 NFL teams have received permission to return to full capacity when the season starts.