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Naomi Osaka refused to do any press conferences at Roland Garros earlier this year, in a bid to safeguard her mental health. She is now playing her first WTA event - the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati - since Paris, but her first press conference there has caused quite a bit of controversy.
The Japanese star broke down in tears mid-way through the presser, after being asked a sensitive question in what some are claiming was an aggressive tone.
Osaka appeared for her pre-tournament press conference at the 2021 Western & Southern Open on Monday, as is customary for top players at any event. The interaction began well, and she provided the journalists with some detailed responses to the first few questions.
But things took a turn for the worse when a certain Paul Daugherty from the Cincinnati Enquirer asked her a loaded question about balancing press conference obligations with other media appearances. Osaka's agent Stuart Duguid lashed out at the Daugherty later, calling him a "bully" and claiming that his "sole purpose was to intimidate".
Daugherty's question went like this -
"You're not crazy about dealing with us, especially in this format. Yet you have a lot of outside interests that are served by having a media platform. I guess my question is: How do you balance the two? And also, do you have anything you'd like to share with us about what you did say to Simone Biles?"
In response, Naomi Osaka sought clarification about the first line of the question.
"When you say I'm not crazy about dealing with you guys, what does that refer to?" she asked.
The reporter explained himself immediately, pointing out that press conferences can connect the stars with the fans.
"Well, you have said you don't especially like the press conference format," Daugherty said. "Yet, that seems to be obviously the most widely used means of communicating to the media and through the media to the public."
Naomi Osaka pondered the question for a bit but couldn't give a clear response, after which the moderator of the press conference asked the Japanese if she wanted to move on to the next question. But Osaka turned that offer down and insisted that she wanted to explore the question from the reporter's perspective.
"No, actually I'm very interested in, like, that point of view," Osaka said. "So if you could repeat that, that would be awesome."
Daugherty then elaborated further and asked Osaka how she balances her antagonistic view towards press conferences with her keenness to engage in media commitments outside the tennis world.
"The question was that you're not especially fond of dealing with the media, in this format. You have suggested there are better ways to do it, that we'd like to try to explore that. My question, I guess, was you also have outside interests beyond tennis that are served by having the platform that the media presents to you. My question is: How do you think you might be able to best balance the two?"
In response Naomi Osaka pointed out that she has had a lot of media interest around her from a very young age, due to her ability to create headlines both on and off the court.
"Um, I mean, for me, I feel like this is something that I can't - I can't really speak for everybody," Naomi Osaka said. "I can only speak for myself. But ever since I was younger, I have had a lot of media interest on me, and I think it's because of my background as well as, you know, how I play. Because in the first place, I'm a tennis player. That's why a lot of people are interested in me."
"So I would say in that regard I'm quite different to a lot of people, and I can't really help that there are some things that I tweet or some things that I say that kind of create a lot of news articles or things like that, and I know it's because I have won a couple of Grand Slams and I have gotten to do a lot of press conferences that these things happen," she went on. "But I would also say, like, I'm not really sure how to balance the two. Like I'm figuring it out at the same time as you are, I would say."
The next question was about the struggles faced by Haiti in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. Naomi Osaka broke down while while that question was being asked, leading some to believe the tears were about the situation in Haiti.
But as can be seen below, Osaka's emotional reaction seemed to be about the previous question and not the Haiti one.
The Japanese walked out of the conference room at that point to regroup, before returning to take a few more questions.
Naomi Osaka's agent later suggested that Paul Daugherty was to blame for her tears. Duguid claimed that Daugherty's tone was "all wrong" and blamed his behavior for upsetting the World No. 2.
"The bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player / media relations are so fraught right now," Naomi Osaka's agent Stuart Duguid said. "Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behavior. And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off court success to the media is a myth – don’t be so self-indulgent."
"I would say for Haiti, I feel like I'm not really doing that much" - Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka gave a deatiled answer to the question about Haiti after returning to the press room. Osaka, who recently announced that she would give all of her Cincinnati prize money to relief efforts, believes that she could be doing more for her father's homeland.
"I would say for Haiti, I feel like I'm not really doing that much, like I could do more, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do and what exactly or where exactly to put my energy into," Naomi Osaka said. "But I would say, like, the prize money thing, it's sort of like the first thing that I thought of that I could do that would raise the most awareness."
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