Naomi — Good for her or Suck it up?
As someone married to a Japanese man, and mother of a child whose best friend is part Japanese part African American, I am a fan of Naomi Osaka! I don’t watch as much tennis as I did when my grandmother was alive, but I do follow bits and pieces of Naomi’s career. As most of you probably know, she recently withdrew from the French Open because she could not handle the press interviews required of players. A good report can be found on espn.com.
I was curious to see how the general public responded to her and her decision, so, I did what I do, and went to reddit to see what folks were saying. I looked at two reddit threads — one on the subreddit r/tennis and one on r/news.
Most people (109) were supportive of her decision to take care of herself. Many hope that she will return to tennis. A few offered other strategies for dealing with the press, including football player, Marshawn Lynch’s method of answering every question by saying, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” or race care driver Kimi Raikkonen, who often answers with monosyllables.
Some did mention that Osaka could have done a better job working with the WTA and others on this issue beforehand or that she shouldn’t have implied all tennis players feel the same way she does. Some people brought up her 2018 US Open win against Serena Williams.
A few people mentioned that doing press is part of the job, and she should either be able to do it, or stop doing tennis. Others disagreed and many people mentioned that too many social media posts were stating this sentiment, and people should be more understanding. I sensed that her quitting had brought a lot more people to her side. Before she quit and put out her statement, people may have been more upset.
Other comments ranged over many topics —
- Some feel the press conferences are boring and the press asks dumb questions
- Some are annoyed with the bigwigs of Tennis asking too much of players, particularly because Gilles Moretton (FFT President) delivered a statement without taking questions from the press.
- Some are annoyed with the whole situation
- Some had jokes
I’m glad people were mostly supportive in the posts I saw. I do wish Naomi Osaka the best. The Pandemic has been difficult for many people’s mental health and I hope we can all be more attentive and kind moving forward.
