Why Osaka’s Press ban is a step too far
RUNS THE RULE OVER THE FRENCH OPEN
As someone who began facing very large Press conferences at the age of 17, i can understand why they might make Naomi osaka uneasy.
yet i cannot agree with her refusing to speak to the media at the forthcoming French open.
when i heard about it my first thought is that she might be taking her cue from harry and Meghan and what they are doing on Apple. Mental health is clearly a very important issue and it is something we should be talking about.
By refusing to discuss her matches, however, i think she is taking it too far.
There were plenty of times when i did not enjoy talking to the Press but my manager in the early stages of my career, ion Tiriac, told me that it was part of the job.
The media are like umpires — sometimes they can be annoying but you have to put up with them because they are a fact of life.
if you want to put yourself out there in front of thousands of fans, and millions more on TV, and get paid a lot of money for doing that, then you have to accept it.
sponsors and TV companies pay money for a reason and you cannot have it both ways. i like Naomi and am a big supporter of the causes she has championed. she is a huge talent and great for the game.
hopefully, she will come to terms with her responsibilities. i know more than most that sometimes it can be difficult.
on the court, she faces the challenge of showing that she can be more than just a dominant player on hard courts who has won the last two Grand slams.
i suspect that clay will be the trickiest surface for her to get on top of, but i do not see why she could not perform well at wimbledon, where she has yet to get past the third round. you would see the last two champions, Ash Barty and iga swiatek, as the favourites in Paris.
Barty is a wonderfully creative player who i love to watch. i would not be too concerned about the arm injury that took her out of the italian open and she is in a good position to win the title she did not defend in october.
A threat may come from Aryna sabalenka, who will start to make an impression on the Grand slams soon. But the women’s singles is an unpredictable event and all the more interesting for that.