August 17, (THEWILL) –Â Naomi Osaka’s relationship with the Press came to the fore again on Tuesday when she had to leave a Press Conference in tears after admitting that she was still trying to find a working balance between the privilege of her global platform and struggling with the mandatory media obligations of the players.
THEWILL reported how Osaka had opened up about the adverse effects that her mental health has taken due to certain lines of questioning at media events and announced she would not do post-match Press conferences at the second major of the year at Roland Garros.
A backlash followed from the Press coupled with the organisers of the Slams issuing fines and threats of suspension when she boycotted the post-match conference after her first round victory. To take the attention off her and back to the competition, Osaka ultimately withdrew from the French Open and from Wimbledon.
Osaka, who prefers the agency of social media platforms to advocate for issues like mental health and social justice, and as THEWILL reported, recently pledged to donate her Western and Southern Open prize money to Haiti earthquake relief, has come out about her dislike for Press conferences.
But that notion has been challenged by a section of the Press who argue that it is part of the sports and that as a professional she is obliged to fulfil her duties as mandated by the game. They also argue that the big money tennis stars like the world number two earn come from Press coverage, with the Press often times claiming to have “made” these athletes.
The Tuesday virtual conference was going on smoothly until a local Cincinnati reporter asked Osaka how she balances her huge media profile with not liking speaking to reporters. While saying that she was “very interested in that point of view,” Osaka teared up as she tried to formulate a response.
She started by saying: “Ever since I was younger, I have had a lot of media interest on me, and I think it’s because of my background as well as how I play. I can’t really help that there are some things that I tweet or some things that I say that kind of create a lot of news articles and I know that it’s because I’ve won a couple of grand slams and I’ve gotten to do a lot of Press conferences.
“But I would also say I’m not really sure how to balance the two. I’m figuring it out at the same time as you are, I would say.”
The 23-year-old also pointed out that one of her biggest issues with the current format of players’ Press obligations was the timing, suggesting that having to front the media immediately after a win or loss was not an ideal circumstance for players.
When she was done, she wiped away tears that formed in her eyes, pulled her cap over her eyes to hide her face and was to proceed before the moderator called for a pause to proceedings. The tennis star left briefly but returned to complete the news conference and even apologised for briefly leaving.
However, Stuart Duguid, Osaka’s agent was not pleased with the line of questioning of the local Cincinnati reporter and wasted no time in condemning it.
His fury was heard in his words: “The bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player/media relations are so fraught right now. Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behavior.
“And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off-court success to the media is a myth —don’t be so self-indulgent.”
Once again, it highlighted Osaka’s challenges as one of the world’s most famous athletes, especially since revealing her inner struggles with depression going back a number of years, which she has shown to be exacerbated by questions from the Press.
The soft-spoken Japanese has used her platform and the coverage of all of this has brought her to call attention to mental health issues.
She said her comfort was that she felt supported by her fellow athletes especially during the just concluded Summer Games in her native Japan: “The biggest eye opener was going to the Olympics and having other athletes come up to me and say they were really glad that I did what I did. I’m proud of what I did and I think that it was something that needed to be done.”*
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
