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“In any other line of work, you would be forgiven for taking a personal day here and there, so long as it’s not habitual. You wouldn’t have to divulge your most personal symptoms to your employer … I felt under a great amount of pressure to disclose my symptoms — frankly because the press and the tournament did not believe me.”
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That was tennis champion and Olympic hopeful Naomi Osaka discussing the intense scrutiny she’s faced over the past several weeks since withdrawing from the French Open over Memorial Day weekend. Her sudden move came in the wake of her decision to skip the tournament’s press conferences, which she said gave her “huge waves of anxiety,” to focus on her mental health, instead. And this combined with her revelation that she has “suffered long bouts of depression” made her a poster child for elite athletes’ mental health issues practically overnight.
“I can’t imagine another profession where a consistent attendance record (I have missed one press conference in my seven years on tour) would be so harshly scrutinized,” Osaka, 23, writes in an op-ed featured in Time’s Olympic issue this week.
She reveals that she had no idea she would be courting so much controversy by avoiding the standard media sitdown following her first-round victory at the French Open on May 30. She was fined $15,000, and all four Grand Slam tournaments initially warned her that she could face disqualification or suspension if she continued to avoid the press. Tennis players are required to attend news conferences if their presence is requested, and Grand Slam rules can hit them with up to $20,000 fines if they don’t show up.
But the leaders of these tournaments later reversed course and signed a pledge to address players’ concerns about mental health after Osaka received a groundswell of support from fans and fellow athletes, including tennis legend and gender equality advocate Billie Jean King.
Read more: ‘I wish I could give her a hug’ — Tennis and NBA stars react to Naomi Osaka’s French Open withdrawal
Osaka name-dropped former first lady Michelle Obama, Olympic swimming icon and mental health advocate Michael Phelps, NBA Warriors All-Star Steph Curry, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and Meghan Markle in the op-ed, thanking them, her family and friends for supporting her decision and offering her “kind words.”
She also expressed gratitude for her brand partners, writing that they are “liberal, empathetic and progressive.” While she didn’t call out specific companies, her partners include Google
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Airbnb
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Workday
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Coca-Cola’s
KO,
BodyArmor and Levi Strauss & Co
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From the archives: Michael Phelps talks about depression, overcoming substance abuse and his new role as a mental health advocate
Yet at the time of Osaka’s French Open withdrawal, some other players including 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal and No. 1-ranked Ash Barty said that while they respected Osaka’s mental health stance, they still considered speaking to reporters just part of the job of a professional athlete. But Osaka suggests in her column that the tennis tournament press conferences are “out of date and in great need of a refresh,” such as making them more peer-to-peer versus subject vs. object.
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“The intention was never to inspire revolt, but rather to look critically at our workplace and ask if we can do better.”
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And players should be able to occasionally opt-out, she says, the way any worker with access to sick days or personal days is supposed to be able to take time off without having to share their private medical history or symptoms.
It should be noted, of course, that while many workplaces are becoming more aware and supportive of mental health issues — especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit people across the globe with unprecedented stress over the past year and a half — mental health remains a sensitive topic that still carries some stigma. What’s more, most Americans don’t have access to paid family and medical leave — particularly low-wage workers, and Black and Hispanic workers, according to the Center for American Progress.
So Osaka isn’t the only person who is desperate for a mental health day.
Osaka also notes that she feels “uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health,” but hopes that people can relate to her and understand that “it’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it.”
“Michael Phelps told me that by speaking up I may have saved a life,” she added. “If that’s true, then it was all worth it.”.
Earlier this week, Netflix
NFLX,
dropped its first official trailer for the upcoming “Naomi Osaka” documentary, which will also address the 2021 French Open kerfuffle as well as the pressure that Osaka feels to “maintain the squeaky image.”
