Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open

[Anonymous]

Re proud of my kid...I am pretty sure that Naomi Osaka will be able to impose some limitations on her contract given her skill set. So yes, she will have to do press. But she may be able to avoid press between games. Yes, I would be proud of my kid for taking a stance resulting in a loss of financial gain to protect herself.

Again, she could retire tomorrow and I am sure she has thought through the logistics of the worst case scenario. It might even be her best case scenario!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re proud of my kid...I am pretty sure that Naomi Osaka will be able to impose some limitations on her contract given her skill set. So yes, she will have to do press. But she may be able to avoid press between games. Yes, I would be proud of my kid for taking a stance resulting in a loss of financial gain to protect herself.

Again, she could retire tomorrow and I am sure she has thought through the logistics of the worst case scenario. It might even be her best case scenario!

She will not be able to make any such changes. Tournaments and the WTA have a code of conduct. It includes press after matches. All players must follow the Code of Conduct. Learn a little before you speak.

Signed, a former WTA player (albeit not for long and not nearly as good!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re proud of my kid...I am pretty sure that Naomi Osaka will be able to impose some limitations on her contract given her skill set. So yes, she will have to do press. But she may be able to avoid press between games. Yes, I would be proud of my kid for taking a stance resulting in a loss of financial gain to protect herself.

Again, she could retire tomorrow and I am sure she has thought through the logistics of the worst case scenario. It might even be her best case scenario!

She will not be able to make any such changes. Tournaments and the WTA have a code of conduct. It includes press after matches. All players must follow the Code of Conduct. Learn a little before you speak.

Signed, a former WTA player (albeit not for long and not nearly as good!)

Ooh! Do an AMA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really wish she hadn't felt like she should withdraw. There should NOT be a rule that athletes have to speak with press, either before or after competing, in any competition.

Again, this is how the prize money gets determined. It's how much the media & advertisers are willing to pay. We could probably have sports with no interviews, but the prize money will be less. If someone wants to start a tournament with that set-up, they should feel free. Saying there should not be requirements is crazy. All jobs have requirements.

I’m saying this shouldn’t be a requirement of the job.

+1 It should not be a requirement. The press can report on the details of the actual matches. There will also always be extroverts happy to be interviewed. Why force it as a demand on the likely small number of athletes who aren’t up for it? And why push it to the point where spectators and players will now miss the chance to see and experience a truly gifted player — because she’s not also comfortable with the way the press is handled?

Because hearing from the athletes is part of what drives interest in the sport which translates into money for the winner.

Hearing from the tennis players at one of those ridiculous post-match press conference does not drive the interest in the players/sport. If I want to hear from Naomi, Rafa, Nole, Roger, Serena I am going to watch their matches and follow them on social media. Not those stupid press conferences.

Ah yes, instagram...the best place for honesty.

[Anonymous]

So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

[Anonymous]

Don't be a professional sports player if you don't want to have to do press conferences. All pro sports require it. Deal with it . Sorry, you don't get to write your own rules. Osaka acts like an annoying and entitled Gen Z brat that this forum constantly complains about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

They don’t have to villainize her, they just have to make her either follow the established rules or not play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

They don’t have to villainize her, they just have to make her either follow the established rules or not play.

When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

They don’t have to villainize her, they just have to make her either follow the established rules or not play.

When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

Yep...look at this thread. Naomi has been a model player and now when she takes a stand on her mental health she’s being a snowflake. We don’t know what’s going on her life and maybe something has changed that made her go in this direction. She had a stalker, she has been demeaned in the Japanese media via cartoons (a’la Michelle Obama and Serena Williams) and maybe all of that has taken a toll on how she interviews but not how she plays.

Yep, I bet if this was Maria Sharapova, this would be a totally different narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, we all have to do unpleasant things as part of our jobs. This "woe is me" philosophy is a bit much in my opinion. If she can't handle the job, she should find a new one.

Ofgs. Her job is to play tennis. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

They don’t have to villainize her, they just have to make her either follow the established rules or not play.

When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

Yep...look at this thread. Naomi has been a model player and now when she takes a stand on her mental health she’s being a snowflake. We don’t know what’s going on her life and maybe something has changed that made her go in this direction. She had a stalker, she has been demeaned in the Japanese media via cartoons (a’la Michelle Obama and Serena Williams) and maybe all of that has taken a toll on how she interviews but not how she plays.

Yep, I bet if this was Maria Sharapova, this would be a totally different narrative.

She said she's had depression since 2018. I can understand why - she was on the court then against Serena Williams at the US Open. Naomi at 20 won - and basically ended Serena's chance at getting her recordholding title. This was not Naomi's fault, Serena hasn't been the same since she was pregnant. But she received a lot of unfair on-court boos for that.

For a person who has never had that kind of hatred thrown at her - it changed her mental state and its no wonder that going into press matches now triggers it.

https://theundefeated.com/features/naomi-osaka-wins-her-first-grand-slam-over-idol-serena-williams/

As a result, Williams, 36, ended up switching from competitor mode to that of a mother, consoling the 20-year-old as she wept. It was an ugly win, and during her postmatch interview, Williams took to the mic to calm a loud, angry, booing crowd.

“I don’t want to do questions,” Williams said. “I just want to tell you guys she played well. This is her first Grand Slam. … Let’s not boo anymore.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So proud of my sister, Naomi. Will not. Can not. Be controlled.

Precisely. When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

They don’t have to villainize her, they just have to make her either follow the established rules or not play.

When they can't control her, they'll villainize her. It has already begun.

Yep...look at this thread. Naomi has been a model player and now when she takes a stand on her mental health she’s being a snowflake. We don’t know what’s going on her life and maybe something has changed that made her go in this direction. She had a stalker, she has been demeaned in the Japanese media via cartoons (a’la Michelle Obama and Serena Williams) and maybe all of that has taken a toll on how she interviews but not how she plays.

Yep, I bet if this was Maria Sharapova, this would be a totally different narrative.

She said she's had depression since 2018. I can understand why - she was on the court then against Serena Williams at the US Open. Naomi at 20 won - and basically ended Serena's chance at getting her recordholding title. This was not Naomi's fault, Serena hasn't been the same since she was pregnant. But she received a lot of unfair on-court boos for that.

For a person who has never had that kind of hatred thrown at her - it changed her mental state and its no wonder that going into press matches now triggers it.

https://theundefeated.com/features/naomi-osaka-wins-her-first-grand-slam-over-idol-serena-williams/

As a result, Williams, 36, ended up switching from competitor mode to that of a mother, consoling the 20-year-old as she wept. It was an ugly win, and during her postmatch interview, Williams took to the mic to calm a loud, angry, booing crowd.

“I don’t want to do questions,” Williams said. “I just want to tell you guys she played well. This is her first Grand Slam. … Let’s not boo anymore.”

The way I understood it, the crowd was booing the referee that Serena had called, among other things, racist for ruling against her (even though she was playing against a mixed race, Black-Asian competitor, so the accusation was odd). Serena had thrown a tantrum on court a la McEnroe and the crowd, believing her in the right, booed the outcome.

That she then comforted Osaka doesn’t change the fact that it was her behavior and claims of unfairness which led to the crowd’s angry disapproval of the outcome.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Right because we can hardly say Naome isn’t privileged with her millions of dollars so it must be because the white folks are racist. Couldn’t possibly be because Naome is acting like an entitled brat.