Osaka is proof yet again that major sport has no clue when it comes to mental health

Naomi Osaka is the highest paid female athlete in the history of sport, earning a staggering US$37 million last year. So, it would be easy to characterise her decision to bypass media conferences at Roland Garros – and subsequently withdraw from the French Open – as that of a privileged sports star behaving as if she were bigger than the game, ungrateful to the media and fans who helped elevate her to such a profitable pedestal. But, of course, it’s not that simple. Mental health issues never are.

Osaka, as we are quickly learning, is unlike many of her peers. She is polite, humble and disarmingly candid. It’s why, ironically, she is such good value in media conferences. Instead of trotting out prepared lines, she pauses and reflects on questions and does her best to give an honest answer.  Her willingness to self-analyse is also why she finds the post-match media sessions so stressful.

To my mind, Osaka’s candour is a breath of fresh air, and a welcome change from some of her self-entitled contemporaries. If she is battling depression, and brave enough to say so, then surely we should be doing all we can to help? Clearly that’s not a view shared by the French Tennis Federation. 

Instead of allowing Osaka to accept the fines for skipping the conferences, or at the very least explore alternate ways for her to fulfil her media engagements, it doubled down and threatened expulsion.

When Osaka assumed the higher ground and withdrew, tone-deaf Federation President Gilles Moretton wished Osaka “the quickest possible recovery” as if she were battling a niggling thigh strain. Notably other players, and athletes from other codes, have been quick to come out in support of Osaka, although I found Serena Williams’ reported desire to “give her a hug” a bit much to stomach.     

While the French Open has handled this badly, it is not alone. Many traditional sports continue to ringfence mental health as an individual player issue rather than one demanding the attention and action of the code.

Journalists cannot shirk accountability either.  They need the pressers as much if not more than the players. Not showing due sensitivity or respect to beaten players minutes after they have given their all and come up short is inexcusable. So too are offensive questions like this doozie that was apparently tossed up to 17-year-old Coco Gauff by a credentialled French Open reporter:  “You are often compared to the Williams sisters. Maybe it’s because you’re Black. But I guess it’s because you’re talented and maybe American too?”

Curiously, media conferences don’t appear to have changed much in several decades despite cataclysmic changes in the world of media distribution and consumption. While some were critical of Osaka for communicating her health issues and decision to withdraw via her social media channels, that is the new media reality. The biggest names in tennis now attract more than 25 million followers each across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

For tennis and other global sport, it’s time to get with the program. This issue, unlike Naomi Osaka in Paris this week, will not go away quietly.