Naomi Osaka has pointed to our weakness, we must do better

Were it not for the fact that Naomi Osaka is one of the most genial and respectful global tennis star, I would have dismissed her decision not to take questions from the press during the upcoming French Open as childish petulance. 

“I’m not going to do any press during Roland Garros. I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” the four-time Grand Slam champion tweeted on Wednesday, adding that expecting players to answer questions after losses amounted to “kicking a person while they’re down”. 

For emphasis, the world Number Two later tweeted a video of former Seattle Seahawks player Marshawn Lynch famously repeating the line “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” at a press conference in 2015.

Now, I am a typical journalist – I hardly take any criticism. The line: “I was just doing my job,” is always at hand whenever someone tries to question my professional conduct and damn, I am guilty of sometimes directing pointed questions both at athletes and administrators. It is easy to dismiss Osaka as an ungrateful child, but her reasons are certainly not without merit. 

Losing is hard. Addressing the loss publicly, minutes later, can be excruciating. I now have a better understanding of that but before we get into that, let's acknowledge the fact that press conferences are an integral part of any match.

Failing to address the media afterwards, for whatever reason, after agreeing to take part in the event, is akin to eating your cake and wanting to have it too. 

Secondly, there are better ways of addressing the problem. Naomi could seek medical support for mental illness.

She can ignore questions that she feels are unwarranted, or she could refuse to participate in the events altogether. Refusing to take questions and then paying the fine involved only makes her come across as bullish and proud, and sours her relationship with fans and the media.  

Journalists are certainly not innocent. This is a call for us to do some housecleaning, and we ought to thank Osaka for letting us know what we are not doing right. Media haranguing amounts to bullying, which journalists loudly criticise.

If we are to call out the insensitivity of racists and sexists, we must also be sensitive to the athletes’ mental health. Osaka has pointed us to our weakness. We must and we can do better.  

And speaking of empathy, I wonder if Gary Neville will ever go back to coaching. As an analyst, Neville was famously ruthless in his analysis of other coaches, read Mourinho. Then he went into coaching and felt the heat first hand. Ha! 

From my eight years of sports journalism, I can offer a few tips to my colleagues: Do some regular mind-reading before and during interviews, and base your questions on inference: What is this person most likely thinking and feeling right now? Cultivate good relationships with the athletes in question. I find that the more I know about the athlete, the better I am at reading their mind. 

That said, athletes must keep in mind that journalists may not literally be capable of reading their interviewees’ thoughts all the time.