Sometimes, when you’re depressed, the best thing you can do for yourself is to push yourself to do the thing you most dread. Other times, though, the best thing you can do is to avoid that anxiety-causing thing altogether — cancel that appointment, turn down that work assignment, whatever it is — and take refuge in a place that’s safe for you. Even if some people think you’re being a diva about it.
That’s what tennis star Naomi Osaka did last week, announcing that she would not be doing any interviews with the press while she was competing in the French Open. The officials, who consider dealing with the press to be part of the duties of the players, fined her some $15,000; a few days later she dropped out of the French Open entirely to protect her mental health.
Surprisingly, the fans and the press didn’t turn on her for this decision, recognizing that for Osaka the press duties were harder than playing tennis in the first place, and that when you’re dealing with depression — the malady Osake is dealing with — it’s best to avoid those things that you know will trigger that depression. Indeed, many in the press praised Osake for her courage in standing up for herself, damn the consequences, and suggested that her actions could help to inspire more serious discussions about athletes and their mental health, particularly when it involves things other than simply playing the game as best you can.
Osake is a professional tennis player, after all, not a press secretary, and post-game interviews are generally unproductive and a waste of time for all concerned. How much sense does it make to grit one’s teeth and go ahead with something that makes you miserable, that’s somewhat pointless, and that doesn’t reflect your real skills as an athlete.
There were, however, some who didn’t get the memo on this, and they stepped forth to mock and criticize Osaka’s actions based on the premise that as a sports star you need to do whatever unpleasant shit is loaded on to you, regardless of your health, physical and/or mental. These are the people who think the point of sports is suffering and sacrifice, and the more they can add to this burden on athletes, the better.
Here are a few examples of these unreconstructed views. (I’ve bolded the worst insults.)
First, let’s take a look a professional asshole and TV personality Piers Morgan. who went all-out in a column for the Daily Mail, attacking “Narcissistic Naomi” for what the headline of his piece described as her “cynical exploitation of mental health to silence the media.”
He also called her
an arrogant spoiled brat whose fame and fortune appears to have inflated her ego to gigantic proportions.
There’s more! He also also called her “petulant” and denounced her statements about her mental health as an “orgy [!?] of narcissistic twaddle.”
He ended with:
And I’m sorry (not really…) if this offends any of the delicate little snowflakes out there who believe all this self-serving garbage, but Osaka’s antics stink of a stupendous ego raging out control.
Well, Morgan would certainly know all about having a “stupendous ego raging out of control.”
On to daffy right-wing ideologue Candace Owens, who tweeted:
Several hours later, perhaps sensing that the winds weren’t blowing her way on this issue, Owens did a quick reverse, declaring that
Naomi Osaka made the right decision. Mental illness is serious and it is always an act of courage to step away to deal with personal issues. Emphasis on the word personal
Whatever that last bit means.
Now: Sports talker Ben Maller, who declared that she was “no hero” but rather
a villain in this story … she ended up taking a spot from some up-and-coming tennis player that could have made their mark at Roland Garros … That makes this a selfish act by Naomi Osaka, and making it all about herself … those are the actions of a spoiled brat.
Australian sports writer Will Swanton, who called her a “diva” and blasted what he called her “immaturity, preciousness and hypocrisy.”
Trailblazer? Come off it. Try princess. … Osaka has begun to think of herself as above the sport. … Her stance is petulant; not even Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have been so uppity.
UK sports writer Oliver Brown, who said he had to read her statement
several times before being convinced it was not a parody. … But it would be difficult to imagine a more risible example of athlete entitlement than this little speech, or a more needlessly-wounding PR own goal. … her actions represent less a mental health crusade than diva-esque behaviour at its worst.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Greg Couch also went with “diva.”
Naomi Osaka is just a diva now. She could have meant so much more. She was going to be the face of women’s sports, tennis’ transition from Serena Williams, and a social justice warrior. Instead, well, she’s full of BS, just like so many others who made too much money, became too famous too fast, became too full of themselves and lost touch with reality.
Athletes taking care of their mental heath as best they know how is certainly preferable to listening to these patronizing and even somewhat sadistic views. Sports is about sports; it shouldn’t be about punishing athletes by forcing them to play with injuries or to indulge in draining and depressing publicity work at the very moment they are winding down from playing the game. Osaka is being courageous to put her mental health first, and I hope many others follow in her footsteps.
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Abusive dictatorial a-holes when a professional sports player uses their public spotlight to draw attention to a matter of principle, e.g., by taking a knee during the anthem to protest police abuses: “Cut it out, loser SJW, we don’t want to hear what you think, just shut up and play!”
Abusive dictatorial a-holes when a professional sports player just shuts up and plays, avoiding the public spotlight: “Cut it out, spoiled diva, how dare you refuse to tell us what you think when we ask you something?!”
I don’t really understand why fans or media are so insistent about all these press events with sports stars anyway. I’m not interested in watching talk-show celebrities play pro sports, and I’m not interested in watching pro sports players yabber on like talk-show celebrities.
Reminds me about how when I was in school (decades ago), there were a few kids here and there who didn’t have anything “obviously” wrong with them, other than they just didn’t socialize much if at all. A common attitude was that these kids considered themselves “too good for everyone” or similar. It seemed to have been worst during middle school.
Of course that’s not really true. People who think they’re superior to others generally try to socialize a lot, in order to gain flunkies. The ones who don’t have issues, like low self-esteem, social anxiety, communications disorders, or disabilities which leave them open to abuse. If anything, some of consider themselves to be below others, not above them.
So a bunch of sports commentators and journalists busted a cap at an athlete who said she would not do press conferences with them (or anybody else) for the time being as to maintain her mental health and keep her level of performance. Can someone tell me why the sports commentators are such divas? Someone tells them no and suddenly they are all crying murder and throwing insults in their respective medias; that’s not the definition of calm and collected professionals they are supposed to be. I suppose they project a lot.
Say what you will about Candace Owens, she shows her versatility here, not to mention her ability to think on her feet. She’s one right-winger who can read the room. She’s many-sided, resourceful, adaptable. Candace contains multitudes.
Reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes one where everyone pressures him to join the team, he does poorly, everyone gives him crap, he quits, and then everyone gives him more crap for being a quitter.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s simple. It is part of the job, right or wrong. If you don’t do it there are consequences, and if you don’t like that you can quit.
Well, she checked out the consequences, then quit. She made a decision. That was her choice. The “absolute shitheads” should just leave her alone and get over it.
Meanwhile, I’m seriously wondering when Piers Morgan will get over his massive hate boner over Prince Harry and Megan. Talk about hell hath no fury like a man scorned; isn’t it time for him to move on from not being considered by Megan as her closest friend ever? Plenty of other celebrity fish in the sea, as they say.
The only thing Morgan is capable of moving on from is him making a damned fool of himself, and that only as he’s had decades of practice at it.
I’m pretty sure it means “It’s a personal issue so you should keep it to yourself instead of letting people know depression exists and making me look bad.”
These are of course heinous examples but I think for A LOT of people (and especially when it comes to employers), “mental health awareness” is all well and good when it’s trite social media posts about self care, but actually taking time off for it or being in any way inconvenient is just taking the piss.
there are typo of “Osaka” as “Osake”.
I am sensitive to japanese typo since I mistyped “hantai” as “hentai”, which… isn’t the same. (the first one is a family name, the second one mean “pervert”)
Apart from that, I deeply hate all the assholes involved. It’s one of the worse thing the tennis federation ever have done.
OMFG, really? You just had to go there, didn’t you, you asshats.
I don’t know why I’m even surprised.
Naomi Osaka said she was willing to keep paying fines and suggested that the French Open should donate them to mental health charities. Then they escalated it and threatened to ban her from future majors if she didn’t comply.
And that is when she withdrew.
Afterwards the French tennis federation representative made a statement about it but refused to take any questions.
Meanwhile on the men’s side, Djokovic has skipped press in the past without consequences and has spent the past year promoting anti-vax nonsense and Zverev has not faced any consequences for credible domestic abuse allegations.
But sure, Osaka is the entitled one.
@Crip Dyke: when she first won a major the media largely referred to her solely as Japanese. Now that she is on their bad side people seem to be remembering that her father is Haitian.
So let me clarify, someone who is candid and public about their mental health and asks people to be given a break is a “snowflake”, but someone who is constantly, theatrically furious about other people’s choices that have no impact on them whatsoever aren’t “snowflakes”?
Right wing logic at it’s finest.
The only entitlement here is (mostly white male) sports journalists demanding total control over athletes. Why should sports stars be forced to answer repetitive, intrusive questions in front of a crowd, oftentimes while they’re still processing their own performance? Why are tournament organizers using access to athletes as a revenue source?
Most athletes can engage directly with fans through social media, and they’re increasingly less willing to keep quiet about their own struggles (personal as well as societal injustices). It shouldn’t be a requirement for them to speak to the press, or to put a happy face on their trauma for the sake of entertainment. There’s not a whole lot of difference between this and commanding random women on the street to smile.
I can understand. If anyone’s familiar with the story of UK musician Mike Oldfield, there is an interesting parallel: if they were allowed to just play Tennis or create music to the best of their abilities, they’d be perfectly fine; but when the people who profit from their talent force them into dealing with the press, who can be notoriously ruthless or intrusive at times, it can imagine it being quite overloading if your personality is on the introverted side.
What I see is someone who is trying to look after herself, and full respect to her for doing so. When depression and anxiety get the better of you, the activities that give you pleasure and meaning no longer matter. If Ms. Osaka’s gift to the world is her tennis skills, then what I see is her trying to preserve that gift.
@Crip Dyke
I know! I noticed it too, and was thinking I know what they mean. Remember all the uppity stuff she did, like wearing the clothes she wanted to that covered her body so it wasn’t on display as per regulation, or even having emotions?! Geez.
As a person who got into tennis solely because of Serena Williams, so disappointing to find out she was, you know, a woman with agency. Who could have seen it coming.
@specialfrog
Re: Japanese
They do that every time she wins, calling her a Japanese player. They only remember she’s black as well when she goes to great lengths to remind them, or also during BLM when she was supportive. Suddenly, they left out the Japanese heritage altogether.
Re: Male tennis players
Wow. As previously mentioned I really only got into tennis because of Serena Williams so I only follow women’s tennis, and I had no idea. That makes me so mad I don’t even have words. One of those helplessly stewing around in rage moments.
Does anyone use that word except for whites talking about a POC whom they consider to have risen above their station, and men talking about a woman whom they consider to have risen above her station?
No?
Perhaps it should be considered a slur then.
B…but that would allow them to cut out the middleman entirely and the sports press might end up out of a job!!1! Can’t have that!11one
Seems this requirement to give press conferences is like a red flag law in the early days of automobiles, or the DMCA: an attempt on behalf of legacy industries to stop them being obsoleted, or at least slow it down. Funny how that only seems to happen when a white-collar suit-and-tie job is threatened with automation though. Nobody used contracts or legislation to keep women from mass unemployment when computers rendered the typing pool and human calculators obsolete and email rendered the office messenger obsolete; nor to keep working class people from mass unemployment by the steam engine, or electric machines, or nowadays robots. Nobody seems to be doing anything now to stop truck drivers getting replaced by automation in the very near future, either.
On the other hand, a bunch of new white collar positions are coming under threat soon. GPT3 might soon be writing ad copy, blurbs, and puff pieces, and computers are starting to be good at the jobs done by legal aides and parliamentary pages and their ilk — the common pattern being “knowledge work at the assistant level, and low-creativity copy writing”. I wonder what kind of legislation will be attempted to preserve their jobs?
The radiological technicians who interpret MRIs and the like at hospitals also have robots coming for their jobs.
@Surplus : I think you vastly, vastly overestimate the abilities of neural networks. For the same reason we are decades away from self driving cars, we are decade away from what you say. If we ever are able to do it ; at that point it’s like fusion plants in that it look like we’re almost there but there’s 0 paths to the actual goals.
Which don’t mean journalists aren’t doomed. But because they are replaced by other humans, paid less and with less autonomy. You have the wrong idea mostly because you overestimate the cost of human labor and overestimate the ability of computers.
Well, she checked out the consequences, then quit. She made a decision. That was her choice. The “absolute shitheads” should just leave her alone and get over it.
But here’s the problem: They can’t simply leave her alone! Speaking as a Black woman, who knows from personal experience, they cannot leave her alone! Because given even the slightest opportunity to slag or drag a WoC, especially a Black woman, these people simply cannot resist doing so. They just can’t!
There’s a contingent of people out there who take any and every opportunity they can, given even the mildest form of scandal or contraversy, will use that as an excuse to express the resentment, and petty vindictiveness, of the dyed in the wool bigot, who doesn’t consider themselves a racist. Contraversy is a great excuse to hide their racism behind…
Big Titty Demon:
Yeah I knew that isht was going to happen. I still have not forgotten that drawing thatthat one bigot did, with Serena as a monstrous ogre, and Osaka as a dainty and delicate blonde girl.
The next stage is for the media to start treating her, not like the favorite she was, but to start casually dragging her, at every opportunity. You can see that coming, a mile away, with their use of the words:Uppity, and Ungrateful, two of the most popular words, in the English language, solely used against successful Black people!
@ Lakitha K Tolbert
That’s kind of what I was getting at. They SHOULD, but they won’t.
She hasn’t actually done anything unusual (in terms of the job and quitting). Bazillions of people have quit their jobs for lesser reasons than she, but instead of her ex-coworkers talking about her behind her back, her social circle giving her crap, etc, like everyone else, the media has to jump in and do it for the whole nation to weigh in on it. She’s up on display for judgement.
That’s the issue I have with it. Quitting the job over the requirements SHOULD be practically a nonissue, better luck next time, hire somebody else, whatever, but apparently not in our world…
@Ohlmann:
Pessimist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-driving_car#Testing
At least three companies now have automated vehicles that can drive, in effect, halfway around the world on average before encountering a situation that they can’t handle without human assistance. One is a familiar major automaker (GM) and the other two are presumably tech companies (Baidu and Waymo).
You might be basing your assessment on Tesla products, which are behind that curve (likely because they are focused more on energy efficiency and eliminating fossil fuel use than on automation). Tesla gets a lot of press (more arguably than it deserves, compared to both other EV makers and other automated vehicle makers) but it is not the only one out there.
@ surplus
The ocean being one I’d guess.
(I appreciate you did say ‘in effect’)
A lot of people have shorted Tesla stock. They’re working on the assumption that the big car manufacturers will let Tesla sort out all the issues. Then once that’s done they’ll use their massive production capacity to flood the market with cheaper knock-offs.
@ Lakitha K Tolbert
Yeah, I still remember that one too. The news coverage on that one never pointed out Osaka didn’t even have dyed blonde hair at that time, she had natural hair, there’s literally no way someone can have been actually making any other comment except a racist one by drawing the two of them in that juxtaposition. Like she didn’t have any resemblance whatsoever to the other figure, it was just Serena the Ogre vs. Generic White Long-Haired Blonde Tennis Lady.
Pissed me off so hard, I had to leave some conversations so I wouldn’t punch people in their stupid fucking faces as they smiled and said my poor woman brain just couldn’t understand it was about professionalism in sports.