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Just because someone says they’re anxious or depressed doesn’t mean they actually have a serious mental health problem.
In the same way that just because some-one is taking part in a discussion online about the effects of anxiety and depression doesn't always mean they do so with honest intent.
I genuinely can’t remember the last time anything remotely interesting happening in a post match interview
Think of it as garnish. The TV people have to present a package to their advertisers and viewers. The main thing is the game itself, but they need to do some pre-game stuff - player histories, recaps, predictions, etc., and some post game stuff. Part of the post-game stuff is because some sports don't run to a set time limit and the broadcasters need to fill the allotted time, but just shutting off the broadcast the second the game is over would feel really strange. Even if most people don't pay much attention to the interviews, having the coverage still running gives people time to unwind after the end of the game.
As an autistic person I wouldn’t be able to handle press interviews for various reasons
Well, when you're negotiating with potential sponsors, you should make it clear that you won't do press interviews. If you're good enough at tennis to get sponsors who will accept that demand, good for you. My hunch is that you're not good enough at any sport to attract serious levels of sponsorship, same as pretty much everyone else on here.
Sports media has been evolving for a while now. Tough questions can be asked of anyone provided theyre treated with respect. Naomi is just right to demand respect.
Yes but not special treatment. Why should she get special treatment while others are happy and wiling to do all the other duties that are part and parcel of being a sports and tennis star. The press/marketing duties are all fundamental to it. It is the core of what brings in the cash. Everyone else is doing it and nobody should get special treatment. There are thousands of other budding starts in the line who would be willing to take her place if she is not willing to fulfil her obligations.
We all like to see sports starts being interviewed...where would we be if we just watched them walk onto the field, do their bit and walk off without the interviews, alalysis etc. It is what draws in the fans, makes the fans like the players and turns players into starts. T hey like the trappings so have to be willing to do what's required of them or its simply not for them.
The global organisation of the ATP tennis tour is not her personal therapy session. It's not about her. She is but a player in the massive global circus of the ATP tour.
We all like to see sports starts being interviewed…where would we be if we just watched them walk onto the field, do their bit and walk off without the interviews, alalysis etc. It is what draws in the fans, makes the fans like the players and turns players into starts.
Not interested at all by the post-event interviews and see no reason particularly why someone who’s just lost should be subjected to a grilling. It doesn’t draw me into a sport it’s the actual performance that does.
but just shutting off the broadcast the second the game is over would feel really strange.
Yes, you make good points. It would be really weird. I guess what we perhaps need then is come up with a way of taking to competitors without making them feel anxious. A short one-one interview, or just a couple of pre-agreed questions...something like that.
"Its what turns the players into stars"
LOL
It is the core of what brings in the cash.
Surely, being really good at tennis is at the core of a tennis tournament?
They're not happy though - quite a lot are pretty annoyed with the level and tone of questioning. Making people cry isn't very interesting from a sport point of view but is ideal from a journo's who only covers tennis (dull) a few weeks a year.
I personally don't think it's ok to have bs press conferences when people are pretty beaten up mentally. I don't think a lot of people in this thread would be so happy if they were in effectively a review meeting at work and got asked why they were rubbish right now, and if that was an effect of their sex life, and could they dress a bit better , sexier etc...
Oh, and feeling depressed now, ... well just tough it out eh..
It is the core of what brings in the cash.
Is it not being a world class tennis player?
Does she have a mental health issue?
I’d wager a very high percentage of sports people at the top of their game have had/suffered mental health issues. Some clearly cope better than others.
Many pretend to cope while under media scrutiny, often using very self destructive means behind the scenes that wreck much of the rest of their lives.
The TV people have to present a package to their advertisers and viewers. The main thing is the game itself, but they need to do some pre-game stuff – player histories, recaps, predictions, etc., and some post game stu
i thought all that was too just stuff more adverts in. It’s like with f1 I don’t bother turning on until it’s race time out it’s just endless waffle and adverts
i thought all that was too just stuff more adverts in. It’s like with f1 I don’t bother turning on until it’s race time out it’s just endless waffle and adverts
But enough people do tune in, which creates the demand for it with commercial partners (both at event partner and channel/network level), which drives the revenue that makes the tournament viable.
It's a complex beast and there's very clearly opposing forces at times between athlete, audience and business need. The model probably does need reviewing but it won't happen quickly as commercial deals around big events run for multiple years,and the money involved is huge. Is it right? Not my place to say. Is it a big challenge to change the entire structure of sporting competition, media assets, sponsorship and also looking after the athletes while keeping the required money flowing? Definitely.
Well, when you’re negotiating with potential sponsors, you should make it clear that you won’t do press interviews.
So it is a sponsors thing and not a tennis association thing? I thought most of her sponsors were supportive rather than going after her for breach of contract?
I suppose I’m questioning the validity of people self-reporting depression.
Well you could accept it at face value given that reporting she has mental health issues probably comes at a fairly high personal cost in a sport and industry where personal image can often count for as much as sporting performance.
The French Open have behaved like utter shits. Does anyone not believe this whole thing would have went a bit differently if it had been this instead?
The ITF run the Grand Slams, not the ATP which runs the men's game. Thw WTA runs the women's game. Media commitments are part of the terms and conditions of participation in the tournament, if you don't want to do them, then you don't need to participate - the Grand Slams won't care they have plenty of people wanting to be there.
Separately sponsorship deals will have some media commitments and other promotional activity but these will be heavily negotiated on an individual basis
Media commitments are part of the terms and conditions of participation
I don't think for a moment Osaka didn't know that, hence she's decided to withdraw. I guess the question is should media commitments be part of the deal? When it appears that many sports people find them bad for their health, it's going to be pretty unsustainable in the long term.
I guess Osaka's mistake was to think that after telling people how they make her feel publicly, the WTA would do something to mitigate it, turns out they don't seem to care overly much about player health.
Hope she gets the help she gets. The Grand slams seem to have realised they've hit a raw nerve, much like the football super league debacle.
Will be interesting if this turns into a cycling 'Oh, I've got asthma too' scenario, small gain and all that.
I thought most of her sponsors were supportive rather than going after her for breach of contract?
I think her sponsors are behind her - however I don't know about the event sponsors and other commercial partners (TV rights etc) who will all have contractual terms around press conferences, reach, syndication, edits, sub edits for social etc, and if she has pulled from these parts it impacts those contracts with the organiser and associated commercial revenue. Which is why its the event organiser pursuing this rather than the athlete's individual sponsors.
Many pretend to cope while under media scrutiny, often using very self destructive means behind the scenes that wreck much of the rest of their lives.
Elite sport is a highly competitive and hard business. In many ways, it isn't a healthy place to be hence as you suggest.
That will never change, however, because many people want to win even at the cost of their own self-destruction.
Here's a question? Why take a load of sponsorship money if your mental health is a priority? All that comes with exposure and obligations.
Here’s a question? Why take a load of sponsorship money if your mental health is a priority? All that comes with exposure and obligations.
Because the player and their sponsors can negotiate between them what publicity outside the game is expected, and change it if required. This isn't about her sponsors, at all. Have any put pressure on her to do the bear pit media appearances? No, this is about the event organisers (and people have then assumed that is about their sponsorship.... but I don't personally see the French Open ever having problems attracting sponsors and their cash).
Here’s a question? Why take a load of sponsorship money if your mental health is a priority? All that comes with exposure and obligations.
I said it before - from my own experience because often its seen as a manageable bi product, until its not. Thats often how it works with people that carry anxiety issues - we like to try really hard for our own benefit to manage them, but sometimes fail.
Here’s a question? Why take a load of sponsorship money if your mental health is a priority? All that comes with exposure and obligations.
Different kettle of fish taking money from a racquet maker and turning up for a promo event or making video saying how good they are. Different when some numpty is saying 'why were you so s**t today?' just so some bottled water manufacturer gets some air time for their product as they've sponsored an event.
Have any put pressure on her to do the bear pit media appearances?
Isn't that a bit hyperbolic? Are some questions from the press so unreasonable?
Why take a load of sponsorship money if your mental health is a priority? All that comes with exposure and obligations.
Again, the question raised by her admission is; Should they? should playing tennis well automatically mean that its part of the job to suffer poor mental health? She's clearly not alone, other athletes have expressed similar feelings, her sponsors have all stood behind her.
It's one thing to say lots of athletes put pressure on themselves to perform well, it's another entirely to say they should jeopardise their health because Ron Burgundy from Channel 9 wants to know why she doesn't look happy to have won.
Different kettle of fish taking money from a racquet maker and turning up for a promo event or making video saying how good they are. Different when some numpty is saying ‘why were you so s**t today?’ just so some bottled water manufacturer gets some air time for their product as they’ve sponsored an event.
^^This. And hopefully it's the start of some change - but how fast and how far that'll be remains to be seen.
That will never change, however, because many people want to win even at the cost of their own self-destruction.
It will certainly never change as long as people are too blind to see that it can be challenged.
There's a lot of bumph being spoken on here about the hard obligation of the post-match presser, I can understand why you might want to interview the tournament winner right after (and there's interest and value in that) but the rest of it is nonsense that nobody cares about. All this talk about media needing it to fill column inches - they rarely say anything interesting because they can't, but any media outlet worth their salt will have a correspondent who can pick out and talk about the interesting bits about the matches played and games to come.
Should they? should playing tennis well automatically mean that its part of the job to suffer poor mental health?
No, but it may mean that some level of press interaction is required.
it’s another entirely to say they should jeopardise their health because Ron Burgundy from Channel 9 wants to know why she doesn’t look happy to have won.
The problem with this is that it could also mean that one wants to live in a bubble where one is never challenged; being asked any difficult questions is 'damaging' to one's mental health right? If one is that fragile perhaps choose another career?
There’s a lot of bumph being spoken on here about the hard obligation of the post-match presser,
I'm sure most people who work would love to be able to avoid meetings with clients on the grounds that it could damage their mental health?!
Some perspective is needed here. The demands are quite reasonable and nothing at all compared to most jobs that pay a fraction of what she earns.
No, but it may mean that some level of press interaction is required.
Sure, and she knows that, this is the first tournament that she stated publicly that she has issues around anxiety and stress that she's said she felt since the US open in 2018, how many interviews and press engagements has she had since then? She can hardly be accused of not "interacting".
The demands are quite reasonable
And you know that, because...?
Even if they are "reasonable", "expected", "routine"... that doesn't mean that doing lots of them can't become a problem for someone. This can happen to people in "most jobs" as well. Look out for them around you.
This can happen to people in “most jobs” as well. Look out for them around you.
A job cannot become a personal therapy session. Reasonable accommodations can be made only.
Reasonable accommodations can be made only.
Like sitting out a mass press debriefing. As opposed to being given a 3 set head start.
Reasonable accommodations can be made only.
Ok, so why didn't the WTA make any sort of accommodation then? When the world's ranked no2 player tells you that she's not up to doing the press in the format that it's in currently, what was their response? Was it to adjust what was being done? Was it to ask other players if they felt the same? was it to try to re-arrange the conferences? Was it to support the players?
The thing they did was to fine her, and then tweet out a picture of other players doing pressers with the caption "They understood the assignment" yey...go them...
Ok, so why didn’t the WTA make any sort of accommodation then?
The WTA have very little to do with the French Open.
The WTA have very little to do with the French Open.
the French Open is one of four Grand Slams on the calendar of the WTA Tour. Naomi Osaka's contract to play there is with the WTA, not Roland Garros individually. same as all the other Grand Slams
https://www.wtatennis.com/tournaments
WTA award ranking points so it is part of the "tour" but it is not one of their tournaments (for a start it has men at it), it is run by the ITF who run the Grand Slams and the power balance between the players and the organizers is certainly in favour of the organizers.
the power balance between the players and the organizers is certainly in favour of the organizers
Well, that is certainly true.
I bet I_scoff_cake loved it when Kimi Raikkonen said to a journalist "I was taking a shit" when being told he had missed a presentation given by Pele.
He's the ice man isn't he....Wonder what makes him different to Naomi Osaka, Megan Markle etc?
I bet I_scoff_cake loved it when Kimi Raikkonen said to a journalist “I was taking a shit” when being told he had missed a presentation given by Pele.
Brilliant response from Kimi Raikkonen.
Apologies to everyone, I didnt mean to wake up the troll.
Unless I've misunderstood - which is always possible...Osaka said (inane and pointless) post-match media interviews were affecting her mental health so she wouldn't participate - and didn't, so fined 10k for each perceived 'breach of contract'; withdrew from tournament; tournament organisers posted incredibly crass tweet which they rapidly deleted.
Tournament organisers have now apologised; WTA have, belatedly, stated their support for Osaka's stance; her sponsors have publicly stated their support for her.
This thread is, surely, now a dead one.
Whether there will be a long term change by tournament organisers - in all sports - is a complete unknown.
As I see it, it's one in the face for...suits behind the scenes, marketing/PR 'professionals' and bean counters.