French Open 2021: Organisers' lack of empathy for Naomi Osaka disconcerting as tennis star withdraws from Roland Garros

May 31, 2021

French Tennis Federation (FFT) president Gilles Moretton took a seat in the press conference room in Paris on Monday. Neatly dressed in a white shirt and black blazer, he read out a statement in French, then English and made way for the exit door. 85 words in English and 94 in French for a combined less than five minutes. Surprisingly, he took no questions from the media joining in virtually – even those on site. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone.

On Sunday – day 1 of the second major of the year - Naomi Osaka took court and won in straight sets over Patricia Maria Tig at the French Open. Thereafter, she skipped the mandatory press conference – as she said she would. Not long after, Roland Garros authorities fined her $15,000 as per the code of conduct. The statement, signed by Tennis Australia, FFT, All England Club, and United States Tennis Association, threatened bigger fines, default, and suspensions from future Grand Slams if she continued to miss her contractual obligations.

On Monday, in a social media post, Osaka stated she was pulling out from the tournament. “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focussing on the tennis going on in Paris. I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer,” Osaka wrote. “More important I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly. The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.”

She explained her thought process over deciding to skip media interactions. “So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences. I announced it pre-emptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that. I wrote privately to the tournament apologising and saying that I would be more than happy to speak with them after the tournament as the slams are intense.”

The final paragraph said she would take time off court which could very well result in her skipping Wimbledon which gets underway on 28 June. The Japanese player hasn’t made it past the third round of either the French Open or Wimbledon while winning twice at the US Open and Australian Open each.

Osaka’s decision to withdraw from the French Open and possibly skip Wimbledon is not good news for a sport that is still reeling from COVID-19 induced financial strain. Moreover, this strong-arming, near-bullying, and menacing statement by all four Slams hampers one of the most charismatic players the sport has seen recently over… press conferences? Bear in mind, the 23-year-old didn’t go for a blanket ban. She spoke to Fabrice Santoro courtside and took a few queries off-court from Japanese outlet Wowow.

Naomi isn’t your entitled, showboat-y, overconfident star. She keeps her head down, wears headphones while entering the court, and has been shy when the limelight has been on her. And yet she has shone when seeking change.

Last year, she pulled out of the Western & Southern Open to draw attention towards police brutality against Black people following the shooting of Jacob Blake. The tournament buckled under growing pressure and suspended play for a day. And at the US Open, which she won, she had names of Black people who died due to police brutality on her masks. In Paris, she wanted to highlight the mental health concerns and the need to avoid press conferences, if required.

“If the organisations think they can keep saying, ‘do press or you’re going to get fined,’ and continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes that are the centerpiece of their cooperation then I just gotta laugh,” Osaka, a four-time major winner, wrote.

To further highlight that her heart was in the right place, she said the funds from fines collected be donated to a charity dedicated to mental health. Except, the Slams were having none of it.

"We have advised Naomi Osaka that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further Code of Conduct infringement consequences. As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament (Code of Conduct article III T.) and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions (Code of Conduct article IV A.3.)," read the statement.

"We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs, or achievement. As a sport, there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honour their commitments," it added.

If the Grand Slams and the tours are bereft of challenges and concerns, presenting a couple: Alexander Zverev has been accused of domestic violence by ex-girlfriend Olga Sharypova; Nikoloz Basilashvili was arrested and awaits trial for assaulting his former wife; Giulio Zeppieri threatened "to kill" an umpire over line calls; Damir Dzumhur walked off court in anger over a line call in Acapulco and Sam Querrey violated COVID-19 protocols in fleeing Russia despite testing positive. And if that wasn’t enough, Benoit Paire has repeatedly spit on court which would have been a problem pre-pandemic, is only criminal now. If the tennis authorities and Slams were looking to rein in on trouble makers, they have quite a few to work with and for far worse reasons than skipping a press conference.

To lump Osaka’s desire to skip press conferences over her mental health and well-being with a Novak Djokovic, after being defaulted, is a gross miscalculation by the FFT. When something as complex as mental health needed to be treated with kid gloves and empathy, the organisers’ heavy-handed approach made things significantly worse.

An example of their brash approach came to the fore in a now-deleted tweet with the caption of “They understood the assignment” alongside images of Kei Nishikori, Aryna Sabalenka, Rafael Nadal, and Coco Gauff.

Moretton’s statement on Monday highlighted how far the tournaments and tours have to go in dealing with mental health. “First and foremost, we are sorry and sad for Naomi Osaka. The outcome of Naomi withdrawing from Roland-Garros is unfortunate. We wish her the best and the quickest possible recovery, and we look forward to having Naomi at our Tournament next year,” he said. “Recovery” as if she was dealing with a twisted ankle injury. On an issue that needed to be dealt with smartly and cautiously, the organisers royally dropped the ball and no one comes out looking pretty.



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