To say that tennis star Naomi Osaka’s with-drawal from the French Open on Monday shock-ed many in the sports world is nothing short of an understatement. Without a doubt, the organisers of the Roland Garros tournament were also left scrambling when Ms Osaka took the decision that will in the long run be the most beneficial to her.
Last week, the Japanese-Haitian four-time grand slam winner had announced that she would not participate in press conferences during the tournament owing to mental health concerns. There was a sense that few believed she would follow through or would be allowed to follow through with that stance. When on Sunday after her first match, the number two tennis seed did exactly what she had said she would do, she was fined US$15,000. Further, the powers that be behind the four grand slam tournaments — French Federation Tennis, the All England Lawn Tennis Club better known as Wimbledon, Tennis Australia, and the United States Tennis Association — issued a joint statement in which they pontificated on Ms Osaka’s obligations and her “infringement of mandatory media interviews”.
In their statement, the grand slam organisers also indicated that should she continue to refuse to engage with the media after matches, Ms Osaka could face tougher consequences such as default from the current tournament, higher fines, major investigation and suspension from future tournaments. Ms Osaka must have decided then that the possibility of winning a fifth grand slam, when measured against her mental wellness, fell far short. She assuredly saved the organisers the trouble and removed herself from the tournament, later revealing that she has been suffering from depression since 2018 and the media encounters could likely be a trigger.
Some of what immediately followed revealed why she needed to protect herself. The French Open posted a tweet, which it later deleted, with photos of Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff engaged in media duties with the caption: “They understood the assignment.” Journalist Will Swanton wrote in the Australian: “The immaturity, preciousness and hypocrisy of Naomi Osaka leaves me speechless.” Oliver Brown, the lead sportswriter for the Telegraph, a British newspaper, accused her of “diva behaviour.”
Piers Morgan, the controversial English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality, waded into Ms Osaka on Monday. In a column in the UK’s Daily Mail, he called her “world sport’s most petulant little madam,” accused her of being “narcissistic” and of using mental health to excuse “deplorable behaviour”. There were other unwarranted abuse and belligerent and unflattering commentary from some sections of the international media.
However, all of that negativity was fortunately outweighed by the mountain of support Ms Osaka received from her country, Japan, sportsmen and sportswomen around the world, media personalities who are not inhumane, but most of all fans, the very people who the grand slam organisers had insisted she might be cheating by not facilitating the media.
It is worth stating here that Ms Osaka is not the first professional athlete to refuse to attend post-match press conferences. In fact, she is in exalted company when one recalls that LeBron James was fined US$25,000 in 2009 for his famous media snub after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. There are countless other instances. On the tennis circuit alone, both Venus and Serena Williams have been fined for skipping post-match press conferences as were Andre Agassi, Mats Wilander, Goran Ivanisevic, Victoria Azarenka and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, all at different times in their careers. And who can forget the NFL’s Marshawn Lynch? Between 2013 and 2014, the Seattle Seahawks player was fined a total of US$150,000 for refusing to speak to the media. When threatened with a US$500,000 fine if he continued, Mr Lynch attended the next post-game press conference and answered every question with the words: “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” However, Ms Osaka might be the first professional athlete to choose her mental well-being over what could have been both a major payday and an opportunity to garner huge bragging rights.
In her comment of support for Ms Osaka, Serena Williams said words to the effect that not everyone has the thick skin required to sometimes survive media encounters. This is a factuality that sports organisations have failed or refuse to grasp. To too many of them, everything revolves around dollar signs and therefore they are content to push athletes beyond their limits, physically and mentally. They do not see athletes as individuals and consequently, cannot imagine that while some can smilingly and easily deflect a constant dose of inanity, which is what post-match/game press conferences often are, others find it a severe burden.
Furthermore, with social media being what it is today, are all these press conferences really necessary? Athletes are far more likely to connect with fans on their own terms, on the various platforms rather than through television and newspaper reports.
Finally, although athletes train rigorously to meet the physical challenges of their various sports, not much time and energy are expended on their mental wellness. Sportsmen and women are people, not machines. Those who have untreated mental health issues have been known to use drugs and alcohol as crutches, as well as exhibit other destructive behaviours that inevitably result in them earning horrible reputations or being forced to leave the sport they love in ignominy. Standing up for herself and refusing to be cowed into becoming a statistic is arguably the winningest thing Ms Osaka has done so far. This is her grandest slam.
