Osaka on French Open interviews: No comment

I am not in a position to believe or not believe her. I advise clients all of the time when it comes to accommodation of people with mental health issues in the workplace. Sometimes you can find a way around doing what is required for others and sometimes you can’t. Sometimes you may realize that what you thought was a required task isn’t actually essential.

I do know that the issue can be complicated and saying “mental health issues” isn’t necessarily a force field which allows you to dictate the terms of what you have to do or not do. I was trying to explain that the fact that she was doing these other tasks in front of huge crowds perhaps clouded my judgment.

I’ll give a couple of examples — after 9/11, a lot of people didn’t want to commute into Manhattan and/or work in a tall building because of anxiety. At the time, most employers couldn’t accommodate remote work and people had to come in or lose their jobs. We have dealt with a lot of clients pre-vaccine who wanted employees to come to the physical office and they refused because they were concerned about getting Covid and had significant anxiety issues. We tried to figure out what the obligation was to accommodate these concerns and how much proof/documentation we could require.

 

All important issues.
Remember, Osaka was fined, threatened with expulsion from Grand Slams, and ultimately withdrew, because she refused to go to post match press conferences where she can be asked something like: "Why are you compared to the Williams sisters - is it because you are black?"

 

That’s more than a bit of a strawman. You can argue that they are unnecessary, and perhaps they don’t yield gold every time, but they are an obligation which is agreed to and which required for all. I get that it isn’t like she’s asking for a third serve but it isn’t nothing and taking the worst possible question someone could ask isn’t evidence that the press conferences are merely forums for only racist or useless questions.

 

It was an obligation which is agreed to, and noncompliance resulting in a fine, with which Osaka had no problem. It was then escalated.

 

I do, too. To this post, and related to Driftwood's opinion, though, I wonder what she has done since 2018 to address her issues? Besides deciding she's not going to do press conferences and having to leave a Grand Slam tournament because of it.

There are ways to tackle depression so that it doesn't only have to be trotted out as a reason or explanation for things when it's convenient, and there are ways to address difficulties with public speaking (which I believe someone else also has mentioned/questions), as it is something you can learn, improve at, and which are mitigated by exposure and practice and opportunity, not by avoidance.

I have sympathy for depression, but is a condition that doesn't, and probably shouldn't, only excuse you from the parts of your life that you find unappealing or hard. In fact, given her openness, her pressers, and the tenor of them, would be very likely to change, and, most likely, improve, maybe even to the point of not being a problem. Information and perspective changes a lot of things, and these 15-minute tasks can be, and have been, vehicles for both good, and bad.

And, to a large extent, that can be up to the person being interviewed.

 

Pete Sampras was shit on clay too but, he mumbled his way through interviews and overcame his low-grade voice immodulation.

 

Stupefyingly dull questions. The world would still continue to spin on its axis if these press questions never saw the light of day. We can all agree on that, correct?

The woman says going to these press conferences negatively affects her mental health. I choose to believe her. Fine her, if need be. To escalate it to a 2nd round withdrawal is not the proper solution.

 

I've spent six hours arguing. I get the points on the other side, just don't agree with most of them. Peace out. Not good for the mental health to spend a full day arguing on a message board.

 

Good one, Jacob Silj.

 

As someone who has been accused of being voice immodulated, that is one of my favorite underrated SNL bits of that era.