So yesterday afternoon, while taking a break from braiding my hair, I was scrolling through Twitter and came across this tweet by tennis phenom, Naomi Osaka:
She basically said she’s not doing press conferences at the upcoming French Open (Sunday, May 30—can’t wait) to preserve her mental health, fines be damned.
First of all, I just have to say this is a total boss move, make no mistake. I did a little research on exactly how much said fines are, and according to ESPN, they can be up to $20,000. Must be nice.
Judging from the comments I saw, most people agreed with her. I, however, wasn’t totally on board with it, so I thought I’d share my thoughts both for and against her stance.
I’ll start with where I disagree.
Au Contraire Ma Soeur
I think sometimes some athletes think that their only job is to play sports, be it football, basketball, tennis or what have you. But the fact of the matter is, when you’re at that level, you’re not just there for the sport, you’re there for entertainment factor as well. If you just want to play sports and not be seen, that can easily be arranged. Part of the reason they are able to do what they love and earn so much money doing it—in addition, of course, to their hard work, skill, talent, discipline and that type of thing—is because people are paying money to fill those stands. People are taking time out of their day to watch them on TV. People are forking over their hard-earned money to buy something they’re hawking. While I’ll stop short of saying that these athletes owe their supporters anything, I will say that when fans are investing their time and money to support you, they deserve to hear from you. And one of the ways they can hear from you is through the press.
When people watch their favorite athlete play and then see then talk about it later in a presser, it’s a lesson in hard work and determination, perseverance. It’s inspirational. People want to get to know their favorites a little better, who they are, what makes them tick, their approach to games, why they made the decisions that they made, how they feel in a win, how they handle a loss. That’s largely done through the press.
As a tennis fan myself, I love to watch pressers after a game, or match in the case of tennis. Sometimes it’s more interesting to hear from the person who didn’t win than the one who proved victorious. Naomi Osaka, for one, is so good at them, I’m sorry I won’t be able to see her doing them this year.
Breaking Down Naomi’s Post
We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times. – Naomi Osaka
As a person who’s worked in customer service and retail for many years, I know the frustration of being asked the same question over and over again, every day for my entire eight-hour shift. People would be like, “How much does this cost?” when there’s a big ass sign right in front of them that says $50. Or questions like, “Do you have a AAA discount?” which was understandable since there was no sign informing them that there was none. Still, repeatedly answering questions like that was annoying just the same. But I did it, with a good attitude—well, for the most part—anyway, because that was the job.
I think the same is true for athletes. No job is perfect. Every job has some aspect that you don’t like. Being asked the same question multiple times just seems like a real petty reason not to do a press conference. In addition, sometimes journalist ask you the same question because they weren’t there when someone else asked it, as in a press junket for actors, or they prefer to get a direct quote for their outlet instead of referencing another. The news media is a competitive demanding business, and sometimes journalists are just doing what they gotta do to survive and/or hopefully advance in their careers as well.
I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me. –Naomi Osaka
It’s not a journalist’s job to believe in her or cheer her on. Let her team do that, her family her friends, her man. Let the fans do that. It’s a journalist’s job to cover a story from all angles. Simply put, even if you have a friendly relationship with many of them, journalists are not your friend. This is a business relationship. And I realize that those lines may get blurred sometimes when you see the same people over and over again, tournament after tournament. But the fact of the matter is those people have a job to do just like her, and that job is to ask the tough questions that their audience will be tuning in, or reading for.
But since she mentioned doubt, let’s talk about doubt. Doubt comes with the territory. Doubt comes when there’s all this talk about the changing of the guard, and your amazing performance has pegged you as the one who’s taken the reigns. Doubt comes when other players have marked you as the one to beat in order to establish themselves in the sport. Much like she announced to the world, after her 2018 US Open semi-final win, that she wanted to play Serena, there are women on the tour with nothing to lose, raring to defeat her. Doubt comes when you’ve trained your hardest and you still lose to players not even ranked in the top 10. Doubt is the nature of this business. Doubt comes when 23-year-old state-school graduates go up for jobs against Ivy League graduates. Doubt comes when you have to give a presentation at work and you hate public speaking. Doubt comes damn near every time I write.
When it comes to doubt, that’s not something that can be laid heavy at the feet of the press. Yes, they have the potential to exacerbate it, but my guess is it was already there.
The Clips of Venus Williams & Marshawn Lynch
In addition to posting on Twitter, Naomi also posted her message on Instagram where she added clips of a 14-year-old Venus Williams being interviewed by a reporter, and former football player Marshawn Lynch repeatedly answering questions at an NFL presser with “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”
By the way, that’s another reason this is a total boss move, because she showed a clip of Marshawn begrudgingly doing his due diligence, if you will, by attending a presser to save his coin. In essence she is saying, I could show up to those press conferences and say something similar (because Marshawn trademarked his phrase), but I have so much money, I’m not going to even waste my time. I can’t lie, I’m in awe.
But anyways, back to what I find questionable. I didn’t like the fact that she used a clip of a 14-year-old Venus Williams, from literally decades ago, to make her point about the mental health of the 23-year-old grown woman she is today. I thought there was a lack of taking ownership of her feelings about her experiences in pressers in that move.
I mean, it’s one thing if Venus came out and said she’s not doing pressers to protect her own mental health and Naomi Osaka came out in support of her by showing this clip of Venus, but this wasn’t about Venus, this was about her. I think it would have served her better to prove her point about her mental health with a clip of herself in a presser where she felt that she was mistreated. So I think it was a bit of a cop out to show video of someone else, especially when that someone else was a child. When you are making a point about your own mental health, give us a clip of your own experience.
I loved Venus’s response though:
I don’t know if Venus was saying I love you, you’re great, but leave me out of this, in the most diplomatic way possible, but if she was, I can understand and concur.
The timing of it all
Anyone who follows Naomi’s career knows that she is a hardcourt queen, but clay and grass surfaces have so far, done her in. After a 23-match winning streak which included championships in both the US Open and Australian Open, Naomi has been on a three-tournament losing streak this year with her quarterfinal fall to No.19 ranked Maria Sakkari at the Miami Open, a second round loss to No.20 ranked Karolina Muchova at the Madrid Open, and a first round defeat by No. 31 ranked Jessica Pegula at the Italian Open.
The last two tournaments are both on clay courts. Roland Garros is a clay court tournament. Given her history on that surface, she most-likely will not be favored to win the French Open. Anyone who follows her career, and has watched her in pressers knows that she, much like all winners, hates to lose. I have no doubt that it’s probably quite uncomfortable sitting in a press conference minutes after your quest for a championship has ended. And I think that may be part of the reason for the pull-out –she’s taking preemptive measures for an anticipated loss. That and, she just may not have the mental capacity to handle the stress of matches and the press afterward.
On the Other Hand, She Does Have a Point
I’m a bit surprised that the pressers pose such a challenge to her, as I’ve always admired the calm and composed way she carries herself when speaking to the media. Even when journalists shoot her a snide question, she always has the perfect shut-them-down response.
That just reminds me of the saying, check on your strong friends, because even when people may seem unbothered or like they can take it, it’s often just a façade that they’ve perfected. They’re often just like the rest of us, they also break.
The press are not always nice; they’re not always kind. You can ask a tough question without being an ass or giving one of those underhanded putdowns.
The problem is when you’re dealing with the press so many of them are jealous. In Naomi Osaka’s case, the press are dealing with someone who is a high-achiever, high-performer, very accomplished in her sport, is much younger than most if not all of them and has made more money in a year than they will ever see in their lifetimes. Oh, and she’s Black and Asian. So there is a resentment factor there that makes some of them loathe her for those qualities.
If athletes are going to get fined for not showing up to a press conference where they have previously been subjected to racist, sexist, rude and/or condescending questioning, then press that behave in such a manner should also be fined or removed. It has to work both ways. It’s this line of questioning that I wish Naomi would have mentioned in her message instead of the ones she did.
The press should not be able to say anything they want, ask any kind of irrelevant question they want. There should definitely be rules and regulations regarding how they are allowed to interact with athletes who just gave their all in a competition.
Ultimately, the press and celebrity athletes have a symbiotic relationship. One could argue who needs whom more, but the fact remains that they both need each other. And there needs to be an environment created where the athletes understand that the press have a job to do and the press are sensitive to the pressures that these athletes are facing in a high stakes tournament. Otherwise, only time will tell who will suffer more if other athletes in tennis and other sports follow Naomi’s lead.
That’s my two cents in 2,000 words.
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