On Monday evening, tennis star—and increasingly, mental health advocate—Naomi Osaka gave her first media session since the 2020 Olympics. The press conference, held ahead of the Western & Southern Open, was held over Zoom. Unfortunately, considering that Osaka is only months removed from speaking about the anxiety induced by press conferences—even being fined for pulling out from one—she received a question that led to her briefly stepping away from the event in tears.
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It all started when Paul Daugherty of The Cincinnati Enquirer led with a question related to the issue of Osakas dealings with the media.
You are not crazy about dealing with us, especially in this format, yet you have a lot of outside interests that are served by having a media platform, Daugherty started. I guess my question is, how do you balance the two and also do you have anything youd like to share about what you did say about Simone Biles?
When you say Im not crazy about dealing with you guys, Osaka responded, what does that refer to?
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The organizer of the press conference attempted to move on from the question, but Osaka insisted on answering Daugherty in full. Over the next few minutes, Osaka paused to collect her thoughts, holding back tears, before giving this response to Daugherty:
For me, I feel like, this is something that—I cant really speak for everybody, I can only speak for myself—but ever since I was younger, Ive had a lot of media interest on me, and I think its because of my background as well, as you know, how I play, because in the first place I am a tennis player, thats why a lot of people are interested in me. So I would say, in that regards, Im quite different to a lot of people and I cant really help that theres are some things that I tweet or some things that I say that kind of create a lot of news articles or things like that. And I know that its because Ive won a couple of Grand Slams and Ive gotten to do a lot of press conferences that these things happen. But I would also say, Im not really sure how to balance the two, I am figuring out at the same time as you are, I would say.
After giving this response, Osaka briefly left the press conference. When the tennis star returned, she was still holding back tears. She eventually finished the event, but in the hours since it wrapped, both Daugherty and Osakas agent, Stuart Duguid, have given differing sides of what exactly happened during the press conference. In a statement given to The New York Times, Duguid called Daugherty a bully, and the reason why athletes relationship with the media has been difficult at times lately:
the bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player / media relations are so fraught right now. Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behavior. And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off court success to the media is a myth -- dont be so self-indulgent.
Early Tuesday morning, Daugherty wrote a column for the Cincinnati Enquirer praising Osaka for what shes done to advance the conversation around mental health for athletes. He touches on his exchange with Osaka, writing, Maybe she didn’t understand the question or maybe it made her uncomfortable. In the Zoom format, there’s no room for discussion or nuance. I repeated the question twice. In the end of the column, he seems to acknowledge the anxiety that comes with her speaking out for what she believes is right at press conferences, ending the piece simply with, Understood.
SOURCE : Esquire
