Osaka is a great talent but all over the shop mentally at the moment. 

The right decision. Either her issues do mean she needs proper assistance to work through them in which case taking time away is absolutely the right choice, or she has been stung by the push back against an attempt to be strategic in her dealings with the press because she's not comfortable getting difficult questions. Her sisters absolute mess of an internet post unhelpfully suggested the latter, but I think it's certainly the former. Her team have really let her down this week with how this whole thing has been handled, it's created a lot of unnecessary controversy and ill-will.

She's also uncomfortable on grass so wonder if she will miss this whole swing. She's in a far more fortunate position than most to get the help needed, hopefully she gets it.

I'll hold her to the same standard as I hold every other player, injured, mentally not in the right place etc etc (before jaggie o baggie whatever his name is accuses me of racism). Hope she recovers, she's made a good decision, will be interesting to see if anything changes, not sure it will though, she obviously shouldn't of been playing this tournament, is a shame another player could not have better had the opportunity to play instead.

Osaka withdrawing show she is  extremely principled and feels like she is right in highlighting this issue and also that she is almost certainly suffering from mental health issues brought on by the intrusive scrutiny of the interviews and the media circus that surrounds top players She therefore deserves understanding and sympathy.

I really hope she is OK and once again I applaud her stance.

As an ex-journalist, I wonder how many of you actually know what happens to the stars on a daily basis. When I say stars, I mean the likes of the Williams sisters, Osaka, Sharapova etc, global names as opposed to say your average top 100 player, who have much less scrutiny and much less disruption to their normal lives.

Journalists will follow the players from their homes or hotels for stories, may root in their dustbins to see if there is anything of interest, hide in hedges at night and see what the player is doing. The journos who do this aren't generally the regular staff of papers, they are the news agencies that sell stories to make a living. They have no local link, so it is not like a local paper where you can complain to the editor or mount a local campaign if a journo oversteps the mark - there is literally no redress and often the news agencies are wide boys who live life fully and may not have any vast assets, so there is little point suing them, and if there is a complaint, it is then not against a national newspaper or major TV station.

The toll that the paparazzi put on top players can be enormous - it is why a lot of players are careful to live in remote locations with big gardens, guard dogs and secuirty to avoid scrutiny, but that can again make a player feel like a caged animal, never able to enjoy the things that normal people enjoy.

Then you have the press conferences - a lot of the press are quite decent human beings who ask fairly innocuous questions, but there are journalists who work independently and exist on selling stories and others who want to make a name for themselves who want to wind up and antagonise players, make them say something that they can sell to the highest bidder.

What I hope everyone realises is that it is not easy for Naomi or any other superstar in sport, to deal with the constant attention. Players start as talented children wanting to do well and they are almost invisible, then as they develop and improve in the sport, they gradually become more visible .... and then if they become superstars, their life is transformed into a mad circus. A lot of people would crack up or change in such circumstances, and I think it is really, really important to therefore listen to what Naomi is saying and not assume she is some stupid airhead who has decided off the cuff to do something completely unreasonable.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Monday 31st of May 2021 11:43:18 PM

Andy,

"Journalists will follow the players from their homes or hotels for stories, may root in their dustbins to see if there is anything of interest, hide in hedges at night and see what the player is doing. The journos who do this aren't generally the regular staff of papers, they are the news agencies that sell stories to make a living. They have no local link, so it is not like a local paper where you can complain to the editor or mount a local campaign if a journo oversteps the mark - there is literally no redress and often the news agencies are wide boys who live life fully and may not have any vast assets, so there is little point suing them, and if there is a complaint, it is then not against a national newspaper or major TV station."

These are very valid points. But they are not connected to post-match interviews. Indeed, reporters in interviews are publicly on display and breaches of code are far easier to detect.

To me, this is mixing up two separate things.

And, christ, I don't agree with the idea that something that upsets or even causes harm to one person should automatically be changed. It should be investigated, to see how widespread the problem is, and to balance the harm against the benefits. But it should not be assumed that it should be changed.

Rules didn't change when Ash Barty left due to too much media pressure. Maybe they should have done? What should have been done? But she has come back, at the time right for her, and more successful than before. 

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 31st of May 2021 10:53:07 PM

Osaka's decision to withdraw raises a debate which is important to have but the most important thing is that she takes the time away from the game she needs and returns better or with the emotional mechanisms in place to cope with being a top player on tour.

Unfortunately the whole episode has left a bad taste in the mouth. If she is mentally unwell in a serious way then you can understand why she has put out the initial statement in what was a provacative and challenging manner. However, this does draw into question those who surround her. Did they advise her on this and if so did she ignore their advice or did they say this was the right way to go?

Her sister's statement does nothing to clarify the overall situation but further painted Naomi into a corner.

Despite her ill health I do think the organisers of the slams reacted correctly in enforcing the rules for players. There are lucrative sponsorship deals which presumably entail access to players.

The debate around interviews and press access is worth having. I do have to say here that there is a dichotomy at play here. Many players, inculding Osaka, appear quite happy to invite the press into their lives where their is financial gain to be made and you see them on the covers of magazines etc etc or images plastered all over the internet again presumably all for financial gain in the way of endorsements. This raises their public profile and makes them more susceptible to press intrusion. I'm afraid it is hard to have it both ways. But this is a debate far wider than tennis.

As to interviews at tennis. Personally I'd scrap the awful court side post match ones but proper organised post match interviews do have a place in the game for me but the questiosn as to how they are organised, who attends them with young players and the length of time they should take place after a match are all worth exploring as well as offical training on how to deal with them for all players.