Naomi Osaka

[CarryOn2020]

IMO Fwiw I want these Olympics to end and end quickly. I refuse to believe all of these elite athletes are “mentally ill“. Suffering from extreme stress due to draconian covid regulations, yes, I believe that. All of our athletes deserve better than whatever the Olympics have done. Naomi has proven repeatedly she is an amazing tennis player and has handled pressure many times. Same for Novak and many others. When the elites break down as much as we’ve seen, something else is going on. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the Olympics. Imo

They all need our support and tender loving care.

 

[maris.crane]

Tennis has been littered with "head cases"* for years. When you scratch just a little beneath the surface of the tennis pro that is acting out or burning out, you'll see a person that is mentally struggling. Naomi Osaka was just the first person brave enough to actually identify mental health (or lack thereof) as the cause of the difficulties she's going through. And for this, she's been subject to scrutiny, abuse, ridicule, belittling, and bullying...by people who have no clue what she's going through, have no hope of ever getting to the level she has in their own profession, and think they have the right to opine simply because Osaka has become a well known figure by way of being the best in the world at what she does.

This is from a former tennis pro: "I know this for myself – it's something you've done since you were six years old, and there's a sense that if you stop giving 100% you are doomed to failure, and that is unacceptable. No wonder so many players hate their sport – the surprise is that so few admit it."

* Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Stefi Graff, Martina Hingis, Mary Pierce, Mirjana Lukic, etc...either got into drugs (marijuana for Capriati, cocaine for Hingis), took long hiatus they never fully came back from, or retired early because of all the stresses put on them. Their failure to address these stresses, the effect on their mentality, and ultimately, their ability to compete fully were big factors in cutting short their careers. Martina Hingis eventually came back to the tour after several years off in a much better place mentally.​

I think there’s a big difference between being a cannabis enthusiast and a cocaine addict. I don’t know if this was the original athlete’s intent, but there’s something a bit bothersome about comparing an athlete caught with pot to someone who had a cocaine problem.

 

[zen1965]

I think there’s a big difference between being a cannabis enthusiast and a cocaine addict. I don’t know if this was the original athlete’s intent, but there’s something a bit bothersome about comparing an athlete caught with pot to someone who had a cocaine problem.

Agreed.

I also do not understand why Steffi Graf is on that list. She had a very successful career and then retired, got married to Andre Agassi and had a family.

 

[LibbyRuth]

There are also people missing from that list - Pat Cash for example spoke out in support of Osaka when she withdrew from the French Open and said that most of the drug and other problems he faced in his life were due to mental health. Mardy Fish also has been open about the impact that anxiety attacks had on his career.

I think there is a lot to be explored when it comes to the mental aspect of pro athletes. To some degree, it's what it can take to achieve being at the very top of the game. When you look at people like Pete Sampras or Stefanie Graf - or even Tiger Woods to expand into other sports - sometimes what separates the GOATs from the greats is their willingness to sacrifice everything for their sport. That includes friendships, relationships, etc. Graf waited until she was finished with tennis to make room for Andre or have a family. Sampras got married and had children - but made it clear to his wife (and to girlfriends before her) that tennis came first. It's a HUGE sacrifice, and it seems to be what Osaka is fighting against right now. I think the key is to have people on your team who accept that winning a lot but not being totally dominant in order to have a balanced life is okay. But when so many people's livelihoods can be depending on your success, sometimes it's hard to draw that line.

 

[ap.]

I think there’s a big difference between being a cannabis enthusiast and a cocaine addict. I don’t know if this was the original athlete’s intent, but there’s something a bit bothersome about comparing an athlete caught with pot to someone who had a cocaine problem.

Sure, there’s a big difference to us, but when you’re a professional athlete, both are banned substances and will derail your career. The reason Martina Hingis first retired from tennis is because she was facing a 2-year ban from having a positive cocaine test. Hingis did not have a cocaine problem (none I’ve heard whispered about anyway) as opposed to Capriati. I was using both as examples of self-destructive behavior — behavior that may have been avoided had they been allowed to take mental health breaks or therapy or better support system.

Agreed.

I also do not understand why Steffi Graf is on that list. She had a very successful career and then retired, got married to Andre Agassi and had a family.

From the New York Times in 1996:

In a two-part interview with Stern, a West German weekly magazine, which was published during Wimbledon, Graf said the news media had hurt her so deeply that ''I could not fight as usual.''​

​

''Tennis is won with the head, but my head was often not with the game,'' she said.​

Since Wimbledon, Graf has been in seclusion. Bild reported today that Graf had a secret operation Monday in Heidelberg to cure a persistent sinus problem and was recovering at her home in Bruhl. Neither she nor her father could be reached for comment.​

Behind the headlines and the Stern interview is the story of a young woman with exceptional athletic skills and above-average intelligence whose life and career have been completely dominated by her father since she was a child. Now, at age 21, she is beginning to pursue other interests and develop her independence. It remains to be seen whether recent events accelerate that process, although at Wimbledon Graf said she had no intention of severing her business relationship with her father.​

…​

Her story and photos were quickly picked up by other European newspapers and magazines, and seemed to follow Graf wherever she went. Her famed ability to concentrate under pressure began crumbling and the corner-seeking forehand rockets that are her trademark began to go astray.​

​

The normally stoic Graf also began to show emotions in public, crying after her Paris loss and smashing a hole in the locker-room wall with her racquet after the Berlin final.​

…​

Saying she couldn't take much more, Graf threatened to leave West Germany…​

…​

''I just hope that Steffi gets herself together and that she is able to overcome the incredible pressures that she's feeling and that she had nothing to do with,'' Martina Navratilova told reporters during Wimbledon. ''I feel sorry for that happening to her. She did nothing to deserve it and it's a real shame. I just hope she gets through it and can concentrate on tennis again 100 percent.''​

Sound familiar? She retired a year later, after winning the French and getting to the finals of Wimbledon. Like I said, there have been lots of instances of tennis players openly struggling with their mental health, Naomi Osaka just put a name to it and some have criticized her for it.

 

[pukasonqo]

Jelena Dokic is another example of great tennis potential but the story of the physical and mental abuse she suffered at the hands of her father are awful

Jelena Dokic Was Beaten Unconscious By Her Own Father During a Tennis Career That Included Bizarre Incidents Involving Nazis and Salmon

Tennis legend Jelena Dokic finally cut ties with her abusive father, Damir Dokic, after bizarre incidents involving Nazis and salmon.

www.sportscasting.com

 

[zen1965]

Sure, there’s a big difference to us, but when you’re a professional athlete, both are banned substances and will derail your career. The reason Martina Hingis first retired from tennis is because she was facing a 2-year ban from having a positive cocaine test. Hingis did not have a cocaine problem (none I’ve heard whispered about anyway) as opposed to Capriati. I was using both as examples of self-destructive behavior — behavior that may have been avoided had they been allowed to take mental health breaks or therapy or better support system.



From the New York Times in 1996:

In a two-part interview with Stern, a West German weekly magazine, which was published during Wimbledon, Graf said the news media had hurt her so deeply that ''I could not fight as usual.''​

​

''Tennis is won with the head, but my head was often not with the game,'' she said.​

Since Wimbledon, Graf has been in seclusion. Bild reported today that Graf had a secret operation Monday in Heidelberg to cure a persistent sinus problem and was recovering at her home in Bruhl. Neither she nor her father could be reached for comment.​

Behind the headlines and the Stern interview is the story of a young woman with exceptional athletic skills and above-average intelligence whose life and career have been completely dominated by her father since she was a child. Now, at age 21, she is beginning to pursue other interests and develop her independence. It remains to be seen whether recent events accelerate that process, although at Wimbledon Graf said she had no intention of severing her business relationship with her father.​

…​

Her story and photos were quickly picked up by other European newspapers and magazines, and seemed to follow Graf wherever she went. Her famed ability to concentrate under pressure began crumbling and the corner-seeking forehand rockets that are her trademark began to go astray.​

​

The normally stoic Graf also began to show emotions in public, crying after her Paris loss and smashing a hole in the locker-room wall with her racquet after the Berlin final.​

…​

Saying she couldn't take much more, Graf threatened to leave West Germany…​

…​

''I just hope that Steffi gets herself together and that she is able to overcome the incredible pressures that she's feeling and that she had nothing to do with,'' Martina Navratilova told reporters during Wimbledon. ''I feel sorry for that happening to her. She did nothing to deserve it and it's a real shame. I just hope she gets through it and can concentrate on tennis again 100 percent.''​

Sound familiar? She retired a year later, after winning the French and getting to the finals of Wimbledon. Like I said, there have been lots of instances of tennis players openly struggling with their mental health, Naomi Osaka just put a name to it and some have criticized her for it.

Sorry, I do not want to come across as nitpicking but Steffi Graf did not retire in 1997 (the year after the NY Times quoted by you) but at the age of 29 in 1999. (Due to a knee operation she did not compete for more than 12 months in 1997/1998 but won the French Open in 1999). She was under tremendous pressure but in her native tongue did not liken this to mental health struggles.
Rita Mae Brown, an ex of Martina Navratilova, wrote a novel („Sudden Death“) about the world of women‘s professional tennis (focussing particularly on anti-gay sentiments but also the overwhelming pressure to win) in 1983, the issues are indeed not new.
IMHO the more critical posters in this thread did not criticise anybody for admitting to mental health struggles but saw a certain degree of hypocrisy in N.O.‘s actions.

 

[ap.]

Sorry, I do not want to come across as nitpicking but Steffi Graf did not retire in 1997 (the year after the NY Times quoted by you) but at the age of 29 in 1999. (Due to a knee operation she did not compete for more than 12 months in 1997/1998 but won the French Open in 1999). She was under tremendous pressure but in her native tongue did not liken this to mental health struggles.
Rita Mae Brown, an ex of Martina Navratilova, wrote a novel („Sudden Death“) about the world of women‘s professional tennis (focussing particularly on anti-gay sentiments but also the overwhelming pressure to win) in 1983, the issues are indeed not new.
IMHO the more critical posters in this thread did not criticise anybody for admitting to mental health struggles but saw a certain degree of hypocrisy in N.O.‘s actions.

You're right about Steffi Graf's retirement. This doesn't preclude the fact that Graf was feeling pressure and was not playing at 100% during the time. Her knee surgery also coincided with her dad's tax evasion scandal -- I think she found it a convenient time to get out of the spotlight while taking care of some physical issues.

But what hypocrisy do you see in Naomi Osaka's actions? From what I read on this forum, most people have their panties in a bunch because Naomi Osaka didn't want to play while (they think) she's collecting a pile of money at the same time. A lot of the people commenting thusly don't seem to understand how tennis pros are governed.

Top 10 players (under 30) are required to play a minimum number of tournaments a year. These include mandatory tournaments, among them are the 4 slams, scheduled throughout the year. For these mandatory tournaments, players do not get appearance fees. So Naomi Osaka was not being paid to play at Roland Garros. (Someone posted earlier about Benoit Paire saying he gets paid to show up to tournament -- these are usually the lower level tourneys that fight for marquee players to sell tickets. This is not the case with the 4 Grand Slams.)

Players fight for points and the total amount in a rolling calendar year equates to their ranking. If a player withdraws from a mandatory tournament, they get a 0, which cannot be replaced by points from other tournaments. Players have certain obligations to the media, sponsors, tournament, and WTA when they enter the draw (pre-match interviews (totally stupid, IMO), press conferences, various other PR activities). If a player repeatedly skips these obligations to the point that the Grand Slams consider egregious and injurious to them, the player is fined $250K and can be banned from future Grand Slams. For top professional tennis players, the consequences for skipping slams, therefore, are not small -- at the least, a mandatory 0 points could result in a drop in ranking.

Given that most sponsorship contracts have performance clauses, a player who doesn't meet expectations risks losing quite a lot of money. I suspect even Federer, the most blue-chip of athletes, is required to attain a certain level of tournament success -- when he exits early he sometimes makes appearances on behalf of sponsors after his loss.

So at Roland Garros, Naomi Osaka knew that she would be fined for skipping press conferences -- she paid them. Yet she was still pressured by the tournament officials*. She accepted minimal/0 points by withdrawing from RG and Wimbledon. She accepted losing bonus sharing money. She most likely lost sponsorship money from not playing 2 major slams. She will likely lose ranking points. She accepted the consequences of her actions, but instead of leaving her in peace to deal with whatever she has to deal with, people feel they have right to tell her how she should behave, apparently because she gets paid a lot of money and she's famous. These people who feel they can criticize seem to not acknowledge that she is a human being first -- one with complicated feelings, living a complicated life, trying to deal with her situation as best she can. As I'm sure we all know first hand, when someone is going through a difficult period, some kindness, even when we don't completely understand what they're going through, goes a long way, but for some reason, some people's first instinct is an inquisition.

*At slams, tennis players are required to face the press within 30 minutes of the end of their match -- that's barely enough time to shower and change, much less process a loss enough to be able to field questions about it. For players that are a big draw, press conferences can last 1 hour (for some players they do press conferences in different languages to accommodate the global press) and they may have to do extra press depending on requests. This is all for the benefit of the tournament; I doubt any player feels this helps them out. Had the RG officials approached the situation with compassion instead of meanness, it would have turned out so much more positively, for both player and tournament. I'll say it again: when someone is going through a difficult period, some kindness goes a long way.

People have pointed out that they have to do things they don't like at their work, but it's not really the same. What top pro tennis players have to go through is a performance review with people outside their company every single time they go to work. I'm pretty sure no one here has ever had to do that. I dislike certain things about my job, but I generally have the luxury of putting it off -- later in the day or later in the week. These players don't.

 

[bag-mania]

People have pointed out that they have to do things they don't like at their work, but it's not really the same. What top pro tennis players have to go through is a performance review with people outside their company every single time they go to work. I'm pretty sure no one here has ever had to do that. I dislike certain things about my job, but I generally have the luxury of putting it off -- later in the day or later in the week. These players don't.

Being interviewed is not unique to tennis. Aren't all popular professional athletes interviewed by the press after they perform? It may not be required in all sports, but it sure is expected. There are always interviews with football, basketball, and baseball players right after a game and often they are asked to explain when their playing wasn't up to their usual standards. A tennis player is only playing for him- or herself. Frankly, I think it's harder in a team situation if the individual's poor playing cost the team the game.

I can appreciate that Osaka's head isn't in the game at the moment and she should take all the time she needs to get better. It was sad to see her eliminated so quickly in the Olympics when many thought she might win a gold medal.

 

[ap.]

Being interviewed is not unique to tennis. Aren't all popular professional athletes interviewed by the press after they perform? It may not be required in all sports, but it sure is expected. There are always interviews with football, basketball, and baseball players right after a game and often they are asked to explain when their playing wasn't up to their usual standards. A tennis player is only playing for him- or herself. Frankly, I think it's harder in a team situation if the individual's poor playing cost the team the game.

I can appreciate that Osaka's head isn't in the game at the moment and she should take all the time she needs to get better. It was sad to see her eliminated so quickly in the Olympics when many thought she might win a gold medal.

In a team, one athlete isn't answering questions every single time they play -- it's spread out amongst the teammates. And the person who caused the loss is never sent out to meet the press (unless they're the captain and sometimes not even then). Take the England soccer team as a recent example: when Rashford, Sancho, and Saka missed penalties against Italy at the Euros, none of them talked to the press about it right after their loss. They certainly weren't sent out to the press conference. At best they issued statements a couple of days later. By the way, it's a lot easier to brush off someone else's mistakes versus your own. Moreover, the team coach will usually fall on their sword and take complete responsibility for the loss. This happens so often that it's shocking when a coach throws one of his players under the bus (see Jose Mourinho and why some players don't like him).

Naomi Osaka, on the other hand, is expected to face the press alone after every. single. one. of her matches. Her coach doesn't sit there taking questions. And I've never seen a tennis player blame their coach for not giving them the right game plan (a tennis player is expected to find a way to win by himself/herself).

 

[Swanky]

^ as are all tennis players, all are expected to face the press alone as it’s not a team sport.

 

[poopsie]

Ive been watching various sports for the better part of half a century and I have NEVER understood post performance interviews. Anyone who knows the sport already knows what happened. You're likely never going to get anything insightful or earth shattering. So why bother
Too bad NO didn't have Crash on her 'team'

 

[bag-mania]

I can understand why interviews are expected. Competitive sports are a form of entertainment. They wouldn't exist on the level they do without the support of the fans, the advertisers, and, yes, the press. There wouldn't be any money to pay them otherwise. The fans who watch the events and care about the sport are naturally extremely interested in hearing from their favorites. I equate it to the interviews a movie star has do when on a press tour to plug a new film. An actor may know the film wasn't his best effort but he needs to promote it because doing so is an expected part of the business, both to satisfy the promoters who put up all the money as well as the fans. I've seen sports interviews where the reporter asks questions about why the athlete thinks whatever happened in the last performance happened, but I've never seen one outright insult an athlete.

 

[Swanky]

We have close friends and family who are in college sports, including head coaches. We feel terrible for them after a loss, waiting in their office for them to do press after tough losses. . . it's not easy for everyone, but it is expected.

 

[rose60610]

Competitive sports are indeed a form of entertainment as well as a huge business in terms of TV rights, advertisers as said before, and sponsorships of the players. Athletes' currency comes in the form of their talent and sponsorships. Tremendous pressure and being under scrutiny come with the territory of being a pro athlete as much as the arduous training that qualifies one to compete in the big leagues. Interviews are also part and parcel of the process, though I agree with Poopsie that after a game/match everyone knows the bottom line. But there'd be no sports if there weren't fans to watch, and fans (who are the source of all that follows--TV, big salaries, sponsors, bla bla) often want to know what went wrong in key plays, etc.

When an athlete represents a nation as part of a team, a team complete with alternates to step up due to injuries or illness, it'd be nice to not leave the alternates hanging minute by minute. When Biles stepped down at the 11th hour, then waffled about whether she'd compete in x event or y event or z event as time went on, I felt terrible for the alternates. It isn't like an ankle can become unbroken in 3 days or the flu can disappear in 5 hours. Biles is 24 and for years always seemed to handle the pressure and spotlight. I loved her! I'll never know what it's like to be sooooooo talented, gifted and under that kind of international tremendous pressure. At the same time I also question why she even got on the plane to go to Tokyo to announce she was stepping down. Ultimately she got the bronze in balance beam, so did the misgivings she was having apparently come and go throughout The Games? There are rumors that she competed to save her sponsorship contracts, whereas had she not competed due to a broken leg she wouldn't of course been obligated. Regardless, going forward, I imagine the language in the contracts will change in terms of what will be classified as breach of contract.