Osaka on French Open interviews: No comment

They’re like “trending reporters” aka tweetdeck jockeys, except they get it to you NOW!

 

Does Japan still do that thing where it latches onto one of its own that breaks through in international sports and then crushes them with coverage of their every move? That I could see becoming burdensome, as opposed to the relative paucity of tennis coverage we expect in the US.

 

I doubt talking to the media about a sport I love and in which I excel would bother me at all.

My mental health would be much more endangered by being assessed a $15,000 fine, which amounts to close to half a year's salary for many media members. To think that she could absorb that at all four of the major tournaments without batting an eye...

 

French Open (and the other major tournaments) say it could escalate to more than a fine.

Naomi Osaka fined $15,000 for media boycott, warned about escalating consequences

Statement from Grand Slam tournaments regarding Naomi Osaka - Roland-Garros - The 2021 Roland-Garros Tournament official site

 

Mentally tough in matches but not in pressers?

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

This thread sure is hilarious.

You all realize no one aside from sportswriters gives a flying fuck about all this, right?

People are cheering her on and posting Marshawn Lynch Super Bowl clips on social media. They love what she's doing.

 

So tennis is so desperate for publicity it can't tolerate one (!) star not talking to the media, and its proposed remedy is to ban said star from its biggest tournaments, guaranteeing it gets publicity all right -- the kind that gets PR people to leave their business. What morons.

 

This ENTIRE BOARD is about things nobody else but us gives a flying fuck about. Of course the minions love what she's doing.

 

Howard is always really thoughtful on these topics. He's right about LeBron, of course, and how this is the future, but I'd suggest this is only going to happen with the superstars in sports, and in that regard, the future has been here for decades, especially in the NBA. Derek Jeter thinks he's Michael Jordan (he's not) and didn't utter a single interesting thing ever or grant a one-on-one interview to anyone he didn't think could help further The Brand. The NFL has been building brands from whenever it decided the QB spoke once a week at the podium. Nobody cares enough about the NHL, which is good b/c the NHL doesn't care enough to actually promote its players or product.

Most MLBers aren't self-absorbed enough to build their own brand. Trevor Bauer could be, but he's too much of an attention whore to ever turn down an interview. Stars like Mike Trout, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer aren't in the business of building brands. Someone like Marcus Stroman would absolutely pull an Osaka if he could, but there's only so much brand-building you can do these days with a 93 mph fastball.

 

Never mind, she gone.

 

She seems like a decent person - the best player in the world, too, without question - so the sport had better (and likely will) help her figure it out. Tennis needs her. People - I mean, I know kids, who are youth players, who specifically watch her.

Does remind me American journalists are in general pretty damn fortunate in the better-than-almost-anywhere access they've long enjoyed, and that may not last much longer.