Naomi Osaka’s French Open exit deserves our attention
By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist
If you had doubts about the motives of Naomi Osaka, it is time to forget them. If you wondered if maybe, beyond the message and the sentiment, there was something else going on, it is time to let that go.
On Monday, after a whirlwind few days when talking – or not talking – became the focal point of the French Open, Osaka dramatically withdrew from the event.
Osaka’s decision ended any ungenerous suspicion there might have been, any careless wonderings that her decision to not talk to the media might have been something other than an attempt to protect her mental health and raise an issue she believes is important.
Maybe it shouldn’t have come to this. Maybe there should have been a solution other than the world’s No. 2 player and a four-time Grand Slam champion feeling that she needed to get out of Paris and remove herself from one of the year’s four majors to show that this was legit.
Either way, Osaka owned the moment. If you care about something enough to take a stand against it, the ultimate proof that your intentions are on point comes from your sacrifice. The 23-year-old did just that, forfeiting prize money, ranking points and the potential to add to her glittering career résumé because, to her, this was more important.
"I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on," Osaka wrote in a statement. "I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and message could have been clearer."
Just days before the tournament, Osaka posted on social media that she would not attend mandatory post-match media conferences at this year’s French Open.
Such media opportunities run the full gamut, from insightful discussions about tactics and technique to dull affairs filled with tired questions and paper-thin answers to light-hearted joke-fests brimming with mirth and, occasionally, tearful meltdowns when the pain of discussing defeat becomes as sharp as the loss itself.
Both the men’s ATP and women’s WTA Tours require players to speak to the media if they are requested, which a player of Osaka’s standing always is, or else be subject to a fine. Osaka doesn’t like doing media conferences. They make her uncomfortable, and it shows. Her answers are usually brief to the point of awkwardness. At times, it can be difficult to watch.
Osaka's announcement sparked a storm of reaction. There were some inappropriately harsh critiques that she was co-opting the fight to raise mental health awareness for her own ends. Some pointed out that dealing with the media is part of the job in tennis, a sport that relies heavily on the exposure of its biggest stars to remain relevant in a crowded sports landscape.
Others strongly defended Osaka's position and insisted that the issuance of a fine and the threat of expulsion from this and future tournaments, because she didn't want to speak to the media, was inappropriate.
Some, including women’s tennis and equality icon Billie Jean King, were torn.
"While it’s important that everyone has the right to speak their truth, I have always believed that as professional athletes we have a responsibility to make ourselves available to the media," King told the Los Angeles Times when asked about the Osaka situation. "In our day, without the press, nobody would have known who we are or what we thought. There is no question they helped build and grow our sport to what it is today."
It became a hot-button topic. Osaka won her first-round match against Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday and was true to her word, avoiding the media conference and earning a $15,000 fine. She was due to play Ana Bogdan on Wednesday in the second round. The clay of the French Open is not Osaka’s preferred playing surface, but she is talented enough that she is a leading contender in any tournament she enters.
After her match Sunday, the four Grand Slam tournament directors issued a joint statement saying that Osaka would face further sanctions if she continued her media boycott.
So she withdrew, and she included in her statement details of how she has suffered depression and anxiety since winning the U.S. Open in 2018, revealing that speaking at media conferences makes her nervous.
"I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media," Osaka wrote. "I find it stressful to always try and engage and give … the best answers I can."
As a journalist, having access to athletes and the ability to ask them what they are thinking is a critical part of serving as a pipeline between a sport and those who support it. In American sports, access to locker rooms is a given. The reality that fans love to know what is going on in their idols’ lives has never been more prevalent. It is a rare sports fan these days who likes nothing more than the games themselves and is disinterested in the surrounding storylines.
Yet there must be a solution better than a fine levied on players who are less comfortable than others handling such scenarios, especially if it gets to the point that their well-being is affected. Representing Japan, covered by a huge media contingent from that country each time she plays and as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, Osaka is constantly under the microscope.
Yes, it is part of the job. The relationship between tennis and the media is a critical one. Frankly, in tennis, the sport needs it more than the media industry does. But there has to be a more equitable way than "comply or be punished." There has to be a better option than a top player feeling that she has no choice but to go.
When Osaka announced her decision before the event, she had little idea how it would be portrayed in some quarters, that it would be seen by some as a selfish gesture or as trivializing mental health.
She didn’t like how the narrative played out, so she decided to do something about it. Sure, it is "just" a tennis tournament, but as one of the cornerstones on the sport's calendar, it is also one of those events that young players grow up dreaming about.
What Osaka gave up is not a small thing. Yet she did so anyway, and she hopes to have discussions with tennis officials upon her return to action about how the rules might be altered to protect players in a similar position.
You don’t have to agree with her, but you have to believe her now. Having the conviction to withdraw over the issue she highlighted is the ultimate empowering, legitimizing move.
Osaka didn’t win the tournament, but she won the day.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
