Tennis star Naomi Osaka has pulled
out of the French Open following
her announcement just last week
that she would not
take part in press conferences.
Now doing press conferences is
unfortunately a requirement part of
the job of being an athlete and
as a result, she was fined and
threatened with harsher sanctions
for skipping her mandatory media
obligations.
This is her statement in regard to
pulling out of the French-Open
she says I think now is the best
thing for the tournament the other
players and my well being is that,
I withdraw so that everyone can get
back to focusing on the tennis
going on in Paris.
I never wanted to be a distraction
and I accept that my timing was not
ideal and the message could have
been clearer.
So, the president of the French
Tennis Federation responded to her
decision and pulling out
of the French-Open and said this.
The outcome of Naomi withdrawing
from the Roland Garros is
unfortunate.
We wish her the best and
the quickest possible recovery and
we look forward to having Naomi
in our tournament next year.
As all the grand slams, the WTA,
the ATP and the ITF,
we remain very committed to all
athletes well being and to
continually improving all aspects
of players experience in our
tournament including with the media
like we have always tried to do.
So what he's referring to there is
how Naomi Osaka had mentioned that
she's, struggling with some mental
health issues and doing these
press conferences does not help.
Since 2018, she has been struggling
with depression and anxiety.
And so what she said last week and
not wanting to do these
press conferences was this.
I am not a natural public speaker
and get huge waves of the anxiety
before I speak to
the world's media.
I get really nervous and
find find it stressful to always
try to engage and give
the media the best answers I can.
Me not doing press is nothing
personal to the tournament and
a couple journalists have
interviewed me since I was so
young so I have a friendly
relationship with most of them.
However, if the organizations think
they can just keep saying do press
or you're going to be fine and
continue to
ignore the mental health of
athletes that are the centerpiece
of their co cooperation.
Then I just got a loss so she
wasn't fortunately find $15,000 for
skipping a press conference,
Ryan and I'm incredibly Pathetic to
Osaka and
any other athlete who doesn't want
to do these press conferences.
As someone who's in the past
struggled with anxiety and
depression myself I can totally
understand not wanting to do them.
But as a member of the press, maybe
you have a different point of view.
I'm not sure, what do you think
Ryan. >> No, I agree with you in
this for a couple of reasons.
I mean,
one is that if you actually think
about it, like who actually wants
those on court press events anyway.
Like people aren't there for that.
People are there to watch people
play tennis.
Now, if she wants to do
an interview with the reporter,
one-on-one and the reporter writes
something interesting.
That's the kind of thing the public
would consume, but those on-court
and on-field interviews that
happened right after the game, and
the matches are completely useless.
It's just a contest among
the different players of who can
string together the most clichés.
And say the least amount of things
to fill a couple of minutes and
then go on about their business.
And most fans don't want to
be watching that.
To begin with, but you certainly
don't want to be watching it if you
think that the person is suffering
and doing it under duress.
That's completely unenjoyable to
a fan.
So even if the goal here is to like
make the best kind of
experience for
the fans who are there, who cares
about these on-court interviews?
I mean what were you thinking when
you hit that ace?
Well, it felt
really good to hit that ace.
[LAUGH] >> Right.
>> What about that
return at that crucial point.
What? That was, a really good
return and the other player gave
their best and she didn't leave
anything on the court and I didn't
either and now we're all here to do
our best and I look forward to
meeting again in the next match.
Who learned anything from any of
that it's just, so
why force somebody to go
through it if they don't want to.
>> Some of her.
Some other tennis players were not
as kind or charitable to Osaka.
Maria Nefertiti Lova, had this to
say kudos to Naomi Osaka for caring
so much about the other players
that was meant to be sarcastic
while she tried to make a situation
better for herself and others she
inadvertently made it worse.
Hope this solution, pulling out,
as brutal as it is will allow
her to start healing and
take care of her SELF.
And self is in all caps,
essentially saying that
this was a little
bit of a selfish decision, I guess.
I mean, that's the read that I got.
I completely disagree.
I mean,
I don't think that she did this in
any way to put other players at any
kind of disadvantage.
And this is an ongoing problem
not just with tennis athletes but
athletes across the board.
In fact,
in a 2015 press conference, NFL
player Marshawn Lynch answered all
questions with the same response,
and this is what the response
was take a look.
>> Am here so as I won't get fined.
>> So you won't get fined?
>> Yes here so I won't get fined.
>> It doesn't bother you with all
the attention and they just want
you to talk when you really don't?
>> I'm just here so
I won't get fined.
>> I pretty much know why
you won't talk. Is it because you
don't trust anyone or
they could misconstrue your words?
>> Just all I won't get fined,
boss.
>> [LAUGH] Are you still about
that action boss?
>> Just here so I won't get fined.
>> I appreciate you man.
I'll talk to you later my brother.
>> I mean, I love that tactic,
I thought that was hilarious.
But there was also
the Allen Iverson press
conference that went viral and even
I make references too time to time,
the practice rant that you're about
to see in this next clip.
>> It's easy to sum it up.
When you just talk about practice,
we send it here, I suppose,
to be the franchise player.
And we in here
talking about practice.
I mean, listen,
we talking about practice,
not a game, not a game, not a game.
We talking about practice,
not a game.
Not the game that I go out there
and die for and play every game,
like, it's my last not the game.
We're talking about practice, man.
I mean, how silly is that?
And we're talking about practice.
I know I'm supposed to be there.
I know I'm supposed to
lead by example, I know that.
And I'm not shoving it aside like
it don't mean anything. I know it's
important. I do, honestly do.
But we talking about, practice man?
What are we talking about,
practice? We're talking
about practice man, [LAUGH]
>> We're talking about practice,
we're talking about practice.
We're talking about the game.
We're talking about practice, man.
When you come into the arena, and
you see me play, you see me play
don't you? >> Absolutely, >> You
see me give everything I got right?
>> Absolutely, >> But when we
talking about practice right now in
my practice I hear you. It's funny
to me too. It's strange to me too.
But we talking about practice, man.
We're not even talking about
the game, the actual game. When it
matters, we talk about practice.
>> So, Ryan, that video of course
went viral at the time people still
make references of it today. But
what's also really fascinating was
the statements that Allen Iverson
said during that press conference
that no one seemed to care about
that never got much attention.
He was struggling over the death of
his best friend, Rahsaan Langford
at the time, and he said this
during the press conference,
this is the final graphic.
In truth minutes after he spoke
about practice, Iverson becomes
more serious and vulnerable.
He says this I'm upset for one
reason because I'm in here. I lost.
I lost my best friend. I lost him,
and I lost him this year.
Everything is just going downhill
for me, as far as just that.
You know, as far as my life.
And then I'm dealing with this.
My best friend is dead. Dead.
And we lost. And this is what I
have to go through for the rest of
the summer until the season is all
over again. No one really drew much
attention to that. And being forced
to do a press conference as you're
dealing with mental health issues
as you're dealing with the loss of
your best friend. I mean,
it's ridiculous and it should not
be a required part of the job.
So I mean, it's. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Right and so and nobody really
wanted to talk about the latter
part, the more serious part there.
But what I can say is like,
Allen Iverson was right. It was
absurd to talking about practice.
>> [LAUGH] Yes. >> Because
in the history of the NBA,
there might not be another player
who gave his all in every minute of
every game, often playing
48 minutes than Allen Iverson, he
really did lay it all on the court.
And so I think he was actually
making a perfectly fair point.
That look if you find me slacking
off for 5 seconds in any game,
any season,
then come criticize me about that.
Because what I get paid to do is
play in games and win games.
But we're talking about practice?
>> Yeah, >> So I'm actually totally
with him on that.
As there there are some sixers
players like Charles Barkley,
you could find
them loafing on the court.
But but not Allen Iverson, so
to me, he's totally entitled to
mock the idea that they're sitting
around analyzing his effort in
a practice.
>> I want to read Jonathan's
comments in our Super Chat section
and send in your Super Chats.
We'll read them during the show and
our breaks when we do our social
breaks.
Jonathan writes that Osaka did
the smart thing she needs to
work on her issues.
Sports psychiatry is a huge
thing now,
especially in the tennis world.
And athletes take quite
a bit of abuse.
I mean, there was a basketball game
recently.
Please don't ask me for
details because I'm not at all
involved in reporting sports or
even watching sports.
Maybe you know what I'm talking
about Ryan, but
there was a baseball, not baseball,
basketball player who was taken off
the court because of an injury,
I think he hurt his ankle.
And as he's being walked off,
there was an audience member who
decided to throw popcorn at him as
he was walking to the locker room.
And then he got really angry and
wanted to go after this guy who
threw the popcorn at him, but
it's just like constant abuse.
You're dealing with your own
health issues,
your own mental health issues, and
then you're being forced to do
press conferences that you might
not be mentally prepared to do.
So I think that this is
an important topic to delve into I
think the sports world should be
a little more considerate about
the athletes and
what they're expecting from them.
So I give Osaka quite a bit of
credit for being willing to do what
she's doing.
Pulling out of the French-Open is
not a small thing and she's willing
to do that in order to focus on her
mental health and more importantly,
draw attention to what athletes
are going through overall.
So maybe something can change
moving forward.
>> And I'm also thinking about this
Idea that somebody is mandated to
do interviews how much easier would
it make my job covering Congress?
[LAUGH] >> If you get elected and
now you're required to come out and
talk to the press.
You could get fined if if you
don't.
That's just seems absurd.
It's the job of reporters to go out
and find sources and
get the sources topic I get it
almost feels too easy to just force
them to come out and
answer your questions.
It's feels like
cheating performance enhancement