Osaka on French Open interviews: No comment

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, a 4-time Grand Slam winner, said she's not doing any interviews during the French Open. Osaka, in part: "I'm just not going to subject myself to people who doubt me."

It's one of the bolder media strategies I've seen in a while, but I'm beginning to wonder if this won't be more common in the future.

 

A snap judgement, but in my opinion, "I'm not doing interviews because it's damaging to my mental health" is bullshit to me.

 

I won’t go that far, but I will say my first reaction is to quote Super Chicken: “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.”

 

I'll elaborate before the brickbats come in. I know that the tennis press has a different reputation dating back to the Williams sisters but to claim "mental health" as an excuse for blowing off critical questions from the media trivializes mental health, makes the jobs of numerous other people who are just trying to do their jobs more difficult and does a disservice to the game and a lot of players, professional and otherwise, who could use the exposure if not the example.

 

2 things.

1. Let's see if she still does friendly, fawning ESPN. I think she will. Because I can imagine the network saying "uh, that's Chris Evert out there asking her questions, not a journalist, and we will be doing post-match interviews." If she snubs the network televising and promoting the event and Osaka, it'll be more principled in a sense, but it'll start pissing off a network that pays good money for the matches and that interview.

2. She's really thumbing her nose at the WTA and the French Open - and her fellow competitors - more than the media. Press conferences serve many functions, including to promote other players on tour who might be the next opponent, etc. Once upon a time, five years ago, Naomi Osaka was likely gushed about by her opponents.

Her fellow competitors can't just opt out, either; they're not making $50 million in endorsements. Not that she needs to care what any of them, or really anyone at all, think - she's rich, she's good, she's perfectly entitled to her approach - but the media literally has an outlet to complain or accuse however it pleases whether Osaka talks or not. It's the event and the competitors that have to deal with it. They can't say "I just gotta laugh." They don't have the money to do that.

And maybe Osaka has thought it through but, she gets into the second week she almost certainly will have opponents who are asked about this, and will have to answer. There's going to be a presser after the semis where, say, Barty is asked about it, and that's a story. Osaka's mental health will be in the news for a fortnight.

 

Thought-provoking thread.

 

People have said this is an opportunity (a less-than-ideal one, but an opportunity) to rethink the media access setup in tennis. The current method has its flaws (and especially the current Zoom setup, which is still in place for the tennis tours), but I haven't seen anybody propose something better that's still fair to all involved.

Also must note that Naomi Osaka's mental state has been under the most scrutiny at the French Open. She struggles on clay, and a couple of years ago, if I recall, Paris is where she was open about feeling the pressure of the No. 1 ranking. Does not having to face the media after every match take away from that? Who knows. Do either of those things play significantly into the mental health that Osaka referenced yesterday? She didn't say, and looks like we won't find out, in Paris at least.

I don't want to take a side here. Players are allowed to skip media obligations for a fine, so she's playing by the rules. That said, it's interesting that Osaka got so much (deserved) attention at the U.S. Open last year for calling out racism. Most of it was for pictures and video on ESPN of her masks, but part of it was also for her comments to the press.

 

Curious what happens if she wins the tournament, avoiding press all the way until she hoists the trophy .... But then reaches for the mic? It would be nice to see the media be principled and not report her comments. Because she wins, she's going to want to talk about it.

 

Really idiotic. She has no idea how lucky she is that the press even covers women's tennis. Every other women's sport is practically BEGGING for coverage. Billie Jean King used to proactively ask editors to cover the game. The only reason she's making millions is because everyone before her did interviews.

It's time to put on the big girl pants. Be a professional. If answering questions is too damaging, then don't be a "spokesperson" for all your sponsors.

 

Would love to know what BJK thinks of it.