Naomi Osaka refusing to speak to the media - Is she right or wrong?

[domalino]

If you best player is not playing , your brand perception dips , ask yourself how why the premier league keeps the rags relevant even though they are shite . Answer it all about market share

Again, why is that Naomi Osaka's problem?

If they wanted her to play, they shouldn't have threatened to throw her out of the tournament.

You can't have it both ways. You can't threaten to ban her and then complain she's not playing.

 

[sir baconface]

Sounds genuine to me. We’re not all made the same.

Why can’t she be exempted by a bona fide sick note? That way principles are upheld and others aren‘t invited to drive a bus through it. To me a tournament organiser should have the same moral duty of care as an employer.

Some of the comments reflect the Euro Super League mentality where sporting spirit and empathy mean fcuk all and money comes first, second and third.

 

[sir baconface]

Yes paid by the tax payers so that gives the tax payer the right to shout abuse at us threatened to punch our lights out, throw cans at us ? We are the minions not the councillors who make the rules, we are just doing a job ! So when in ramsgate Bigga feel free to come over and abuse and punch us etc ;)

The same as you have a right to abuse and attack nurses, doctors, teachers, ambulance, etc etc anyone who is paid by the state is free game ?

Man, if this ever happens when you’re wearing your City shirt at work, I’ll equip a posse of Kent Blues with pitchforks. We’ll sort the fcukers out.

 

[Dubai Blue]

But she is not playing , therfore not winning which means her market value shrinks as the next best thing comes along and takes her place

Well, given that she made that decision herself, it seems she's not too bothered about her market value vis-à-vis her own mental well-being. And fair play to her.

 

[sir baconface]

Wonder what stablehands feel shovelling shit every day. Surely that's not good for their mental health but they still do it.

Whereas writing total shit evidently gives some no-marks a sense of worth.

 

[Centurions]

Sounds genuine to me. We’re not all made the same.

Why can’t she be exempted by a bona fide sick note? That way principles are upheld and others aren‘t invited to drive a bus through it. To me a tournament organiser should have the same moral duty of care as an employer.

Some of the comments reflect the Euro Super League mentality where sporting spirit and empathy mean fcuk all and money comes first, second and third.

No, we're not made the same but a sick note isn't going to work. They'll all have sick note from 'friendly' doctors and suddenly you'll have no interviews with any player of note. That harms the competitions and their sponsorships which impacts everybody else.

If she's that bad then for the sake of her own mental health she can just quit professional tennis. BTW, I can't see how you get to the top of any profession without being mentally tough enough to cope with a 20 minute media interview.

 

[BigOscar]

No, we're not made the same but a sick note isn't going to work. They'll all have sick note from 'friendly' doctors and suddenly you'll have no interviews with any player of note. That harms the competitions and their sponsorships which impacts everybody else.

If she's that bad then for the sake of her own mental health she can just quit professional tennis. BTW, I can't see how you get to the top of any profession without being mentally tough enough to cope with a 20 minute media interview.

Well despite you not being able to see how you get to the top of any profession without being "mentally tough enough" to cope with press conferences, she did.

So it suggests that playing tennis and answering press conference questions are not particularly similar skills. Who'd have thought?

 

[KS55]

Technically speaking, as we don't know the true extent of her issues, she's on 'the spectrum' with her anxieties. Should she quite her job because of it?

Do you have or know anybody on the spectrum? Do you/ would you tell them to change jobs?

She has depression; should she jack it all in, then?

Actually, there's a thread on depression on the forum. Perhaps you should go in there and announce us all as 'precious' and to 'get over it'??

There are some right idiots on here, at times!

Come off it. As someone who has suffered clinical depression for many years, and been hospitalised at my worst, I know exactly what is is like. And yes, I jacked in my job and did summat I was still capable of.
The truth is she could not even play in these tournaments if she were really depressed. There's the rub.
When she announces that medical reasons mean she will not be playing, then fair dos. But if she is fit enough to play, she is fit enough to answer a few questions.
Alternatively, she could obtain a medical certificate saying that press work would exacerbate her condition and discuss that with the LTA.
There is no suggestion that she has done either. If she really has not done any of this, yes, she is being precious and a little irresponsible. You can't sign up to the rules and then unilaterally refuse to obey them.
Since I posted, she has withdrawn from the French but we don't know whether this is medical or to pre-empt a ban. We must, therefore withold judgement until her next tournament and see what she does.
Your last para attempts to put words in my mouth and is unworthy. I did not suggest that people with depression were being precious, rather I doubted her (self?) diagnosis as she intended to play.
This "right idiot" has thought about it rather more than you seem to have done.

 

[sir baconface]

Actually, in this day and age, it kind of is her job. I'm sure her sponsors, who won't be paying on the cheap, will want the megastar that their brand is associated with to be out there talking to the media, perhaps with a baseball cap or an arm badge with their name on it. And I'm sure I read that the WTA have rules re players being expected to carry out media commitments. I'm sure Ms Osaka would have been well aware of such rules when she entered the French Open. Hopefully, though, some sort of compromise can be found whereby she might be able to re-enter the tournament. And then, a look at the media commitments expected of these players, particularly the younger players like Ms Osaka.

Modern “sport” in a nutshell. Sponsorship is all.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Aye yeah, the money is coming from the Daily Mail write up, not Sky buying the TV rights to show the actual sport. Press coverage is advertising at best. But let's not pretend that these desperate-for-content sports journalists are going to stop writing about the tournament because they're not allowed to ask loads of questions. But perhaps they'll have to write about the actual game, rather than something controversial that someone said after they poked them with a stick enough.

There is a particular issue with these sit-down press conferences too. In football, they might get two minutes with a player, so they have to be quick and ask "what went wrong today" and maybe a quick question about a refereeing decision. But in these sit-down interviews, you get these armchair critics trying to analyse the loss themselves and asking ridiculously personal questions. I mean look at the state of this ffs:



The first two questions are about the actual match, but then we get questions about her confidence, whether it was a mistake to split with her coach, how she's going to pick herself up, whether she's been good enough in practice, how she's bounced back from defeats in the past, whether it's difficult to be famous. It's bollocks, and it's entirely caused by the fact that they know they've got this long sit down with multiple media outlets, rather than just a quick standing interview with the company that actually bought the rights to the competition.

Anyway, they've now lost their top draw for one of the biggest TV markets in the world, so well played the French Open.

sadly for the press the Q&A was wrapped up before they could get to the nub of things "whats your favourite colour" and "whats your favourite boy band "- its just intrusive probing everywhere to see if they can mine a "nugget" to make a story out of.
You know the sort of thing " Pep will City buy Haaland in the summer"
"I can't see we will - I can't say - he is a Dortmund player "

Headline " PEP DISMISSES HAALAND BUY - Guardiola says he won't consider signing him"

Not really what is said but hey its a headline eh?