Naomi Osaka withdraws from the French Open
- Thread starter weakera
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victorcruz
Hall of Fame
Naomi pulling a Kyrie 
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
I wonder if she expected some sort of support from other top players? Instead they all went "uuh no" and they hung her out to dry a little
Thriller
Hall of Fame
Just a thought, why don't some of these so-called journalists actually try going out, leaving the press room, watching some matches and writing about tennis!!
I suppose that is harder work than baiting players in the conference so they can write a story about what a player said rather than what they do.
One of the best players in the world is on the brink of retirement at the age of just 23 for reasons wholly irrelevant to tennis ability. This is very sad.
I suppose that is harder work than baiting players in the conference so they can write a story about what a player said rather than what they do.
One of the best players in the world is on the brink of retirement at the age of just 23 for reasons wholly irrelevant to tennis ability. This is very sad.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
If she's retiring it's not because of journalists lol.
NaomiKonjuhPotapova
G.O.A.T.
Not sure how much time off she will take, I'm guessing she will opt out the whole grass season and focusing on Olympics. Wowza talk about pressure on Olympics.
James P
G.O.A.T.
That'd be her own mental fragility.
Dominic & Andrey
Legend
The keyboard warriors out there are the ones who need to chill and have a drink, disagreeing with Osaka doesn't necessarily mean you are a HATER or a racist. That's crazy.
Lleytonstation
Talk Tennis Guru
Welcome to the future.
TennisDawg
Hall of Fame
Not even close. Ali had a personality and was smart and witty. He loved messing with press and used it to promote his fights and made millions doing it.Naomi went full Muhammad Ali vs French Open.
Genie Of the Bank
Hall of Fame
True.
Nowdays you have a choice to bow to Democrat agenda BLM vs free world.
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
Yes the biggest tragedy in all of this is that it will, or at least it would make ME even MORE DEPRESSED AND ANXIOUS, the internet alt right trolls love to see any of the so called perceived "Leftist/liberal/social justice/diverse/compassionate/empathetic" people lose and suffer. So it's crazy how instead of being happy with shchenaufraude they are doubling down and now literally beating Osaka when she's down to prove their point of??
Truly a sad day in sports history when politics and divisive toxicity have brought us here.
Truly a sad day in sports history when politics and divisive toxicity have brought us here.
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
Osaka on the brink of sports martyrdom here. TV movies, books, you name it. $50 million a year is peanuts after this.
Mixeddubskickserve
Rookie
I would imagine the French basically said to her we are going to default you from the event but we will give you an easy out and let you say that you are withdrawing yourself
Thriller
Hall of Fame
What's in the contract is a fine for missing press conferences. The GS threw petrol on the fire by threatening to default her and ban her from future grand slams.
She had two choices, bend the knee or throw two fingers.
She made the right choice.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
They do ask her about tennis. She complained in her original statement that the kind of questions she gets from the press are negative and can lead you to doubt your game once on the court. That's definitely why this came up now. No one in the press questions her game during the hard court seasons. But on clay she gets questions about why she can't win here and if she can improve on the dirt (and it'll be the same come grass season).
She only wants questions like "Naomi, why are you so good?" or nothing at all.
T
TheNachoMan
Guest
I can’t speak for the Japanese people but I doubt they are as supporting of Naomi for this as the Americans are. They are more humble and less dramatic
aliceinpains
Rookie
Yep, she's a coward.
Thriller
Hall of Fame
No it's because the GS organisers think the audience want to see her talk more than they want to watch her play tennis. They couldn't be more wrong.
Genie Of the Bank
Hall of Fame
Naomi is a woman, she is subtle in her own way.
your best friend
Rookie
I don't think enough of Osaka to "hate her" though that's always the woke reaction..."disagreement with me equals hate".
It's childish. Just ditching the entire French Open is hardly the way to deal with stress or whatever has a bug up her skirt.
I can tell you this...this blot on her resume will follow her around. Better to play a listless early round match, lose and move on
than simply drop out.
The Japanese are ones for "honor" and giving a full effort. Can't say this will endear her.
Jason Swerve
Hall of Fame
Playing on clay? Might as well've been.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
It's basic media obligations required for every player participating. All that happened is the Slams saying Osaka isn't above the rules and now she seems to be unable to handle that.
MasterZeb
Hall of Fame
No idea. And you don’t either. LOL
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
well you you definitely seemed to miss the at least 5 other osaka threads this past weekend that were deleted due to 40-15, Raul and many others using Naomi's BLM activism to vilify her and attack her with alt right hate and racism.
celito
Professional
Would really doubt she is making up the depression part. Some athletes can't deal with the attention when they get to the top or have other issues. Agassi is an example. Having said that, she didn't seem to have problems exposing herself on Instagram and speaking out about social issues which only brings more attention to yourself. She also did voluntarily do talk shows (i think Ellen at least) after she won the US Open. She looked a bit awkward in press confs but also seemed to be at easy cracking jokes. So this did come as a bit of a surprise and she could have handled it better. The people to blame here are IMO her support system (family, coach, PR team if she has one). They should have guided her better.
NaomiKonjuhPotapova
G.O.A.T.
She had Netflix deal due to out this year. I guess it will capture her journey up until Olympics.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
There was no "bullying". She feels that it is beneath her to respond to questions that every other player does. It is as ridiculous as Federer demanding that 40-15 never be brought up. She needs to suck it up, play tennis, attend the 10 minute softball interview and collect her $50 million.
Zetty
Hall of Fame
Well they want her to play tennis and then talk apparently, otherwise you get fined
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
not here to entertain friend, just to bring awareness to a concept called : EMPATHY. Get some!
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
I hope she wins Gold.
Breakpointerer
Legend
She probably expected a level of support from other top players as well, but instead they all pretty much disagreed.
Either way a huge mess
Either way a huge mess
MasterZeb
Hall of Fame
Yeah. She wasn’t able to play normally. Cause of her mental health. That’s the point. She has a victim of bullying. Not by the media initially. But by the backlash of this by a bunch of losers with no empathy.
T
TheNachoMan
Guest
That doesn’t surprise me. He’s not into the same American activist dramashow that she’s into. He just wants to play tennis
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
Something posters are not getting- Naomi does not need to do anything. She does things on her terms. That is her power. Must be very liberating.
TennisDawg
Hall of Fame
Ali would have been drafted but it’s very unlikely he would have been sent to Vietnam. He refused to go into the army to make a statement about racism and a senseless war. He spoke truth. He lost his boxing license for 3 years. During that time he spoke in Ivy League colleges against the war. None could match his wit. He later used his wit and personality to promote his fights and turned his haters into fans. He was a remarkable sports figure:
James P
G.O.A.T.
I think that's a big part of it. She thought she was ushering in change or something, just had backfired spectacularly.
TennisIcon
Rookie
She wanted to skip press because it always causes her social anxiety and it probably would’ve been exacerbated because this is her worst surface and she is very insecure about how she does on the clay. If the tournament could’ve been more accommodating and understanding instead of issuing threats she wouldn’t have felt the need to withdraw. Their reaction to her announcement is what led to the media storm.
Thriller
Hall of Fame
Very few of them write about matches. They write about the score and what the players said afterwards.
There was a very dramatic match yesterday involving Dimitrov. I cannot find one description of the match in any of the UK newspapers.
It's almost as if none of the reporters could be bothered to actually attend the match and write about it.
Sitting in the pressroom on a laptop drinking coffee and making up pure gossipy BS based on distorting a few choice words from a press conference is the easier life.
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
MasterZeb
Hall of Fame
Which shows that the problem here is her mental well-being, not the media. Either way though, the logical response isn’t to bully and antagonise her further. She’s being fined. That’s it. She’s lying the consequence. Wtf does anyone else have to do with this
Genie Of the Bank
Hall of Fame
I wish Novak do the "Osaka "move every time when hater journalist provoke him.
James P
G.O.A.T.
Everybody understands she's a gazillionaire, so you stop trotting that out as a hot take now.
Zetty
Hall of Fame
Who watches tennis for the press conferences anyway? What are you complaining about that you can't easily avoid?
MasterZeb
Hall of Fame
Was she not being fined?It's funny to see people defend her. How many of you wouldn't be fired if you refused to fulfill your contractual obligations lol?
acintya
Legend
oh come on. you can skip the question of the press or you just say: i will not answer this. how hard is that?
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