Poor form on clay
The four-time Grand Slam champion has often been questioned about her poor form and adaptability on clay—osaka has never made it past the third round in Paris—and they resurfaced with greater intensity this year after early exits in Rome and Madrid. “I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me,” she wrote last week.
On court those doubts didn’t surface. In her opening match on Sunday, Osaka enjoyed a straight-set win over Patricia Maria Tig, looking much more composed and adept to the varied challenge of succeeding on clay. But the storyline quickly shifted to her being fined $15,000 for not showing up for the postmatch press conference and the Grand Slam bosses taking a sterner stand than many expected by threatening to default her if she didn’t back down.
Osaka sent out a cryptic tweet (“anger is a lack of understanding. change makes people uncomfortable”), but perhaps soon realised that the public tussle—which may well have been negotiated and dealt with behind the scenes—was proving to be too much of a “distraction” for her and the tournament.
“I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly,” Osaka wrote in a long post on Monday explaining her withdrawal.
The 23-year-old then went on to write about her issues with social anxiety, “huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media” and how in Paris she was already feeling “vulnerable and anxious” about fronting up to questions. Her fellow tennis stars, while sympathising and understanding Osaka’s plight, however spoke about the positive role of the media, the back-and-forth press conferences and it being part of an elite professional sportsperson’s life. junctures of their career or consistently throughout. From 2004 to 2011, Alex Ferguson boycotted BBC even as he coached Manchester United to an unprecedented trophy run in England and Europe. Ferguson was irked by a documentary BBC had aired.
In 2019, NBA icon Kevin Durant, who has had a love-hate relationship with the media in the past, shunned speaking to the press for close to 10 days amid reports of his impending free agency and move to the New York Knicks. And when the Golden State Warriors star did finally turn up for a press conference, he made sure he got his point across, throwing phrases like “Who are you? Why do I got to talk to you?” and “Grow up man, grow up” and “I just want to play ball… you got a problem?” to a room full of gobsmacked journalists. Asked about why he hadn’t spoken to the press in all these days, Durant shot back: “Why do you care?” Prodded further, he added: “Well, I just didn’t feel like talking.”
Like the Grand Slam norms, the National Football League (NFL) too requires its athletes to be available to the media or risk hefty fines. In 2015, Seattle Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch, clearly in no mood to engage with words on the annual Super Bowl media day, repeated subtle variants of the line, “I’m here so I won’t get fined” to around 29 questions directed at him for close to five minutes.
Closer home, former India cricket captain MS Dhoni has