Osaka on French Open interviews: No comment

Multiple times now, Osaka has in effect said the media is not really the issue and apologized to journalists who have covered her extensively.

It's doing any media at all, really.

 

I don't know, Venus. I'll still take the questioner on the left against any of you gals.

 

You can not be serious!

 

Old white golfer guy lecturing on how black women should act.

Laughable if it wasn't so pathetic.

 

Substitute old white irrelevant reporter for golfer.

 

It kinda should trigger all of us, frankly.

I had to read that quote again to make sure it was said by Venus, and not Serena, whom it sounded more like.

Doesn't Venus realize that the press conferences aren't a competition between journalists' tennis abilities, and hers?

In fact, the purpose is more likely just the opposite: In essence, Venus is asked, and needed, to relate her experience precisely because it is so different than writers', and more importantly, than that of readers, listeners and fans.

 

We like to think they do, but do they really? I rarely hear fans complain when athletes refuse to speak to the media. I think the fans benefit from our access to athletes, but do they really care whether they "hear" directly from them?

 

No

 

I think they do. Or, more to the point, I think they don't realize they do, precisely because they're in a position where they're not having to deal with not doing so.

If they didn't hear from athletes, they may not "care" in that they might still like to watch them play tennis (or any other sport), but eventually, they would lose any real connection or reason for or interest in doing so because there would be no relating to or caring about the players themselves.

 

What if they had pro sports and nobody cared?

 

My take on this is different because it's one of the tricks I was given for dealing with stage fright - reminding yourself that those people can't do what you can do is meant to shore up your confidence. That's how I read that anyway.

 

A fair number of “pro” outfits that pay peanuts show what happens when no one cares