Naomi Osaka says former first lady Michelle Obama, Novak Djokovic, Meghan Markle and NBA star Stephen Curry were among those who reached out to offer support after she withdrew from the French Open to take a mental health break.
In an essay that appears in Time’s Olympic preview issue, and will be on sale in print on Friday, Osaka – a four-time grand slam champion – writes that she hopes “we can enact measures to protect athletes, especially the fragile ones,” and suggests they be allowed to sometimes skip media obligations without punishment.
“There can be moments for any of us where we are dealing with issues behind the scenes,” Osaka said. “Each of us as humans is going through something on some level.”
She said before the French Open began that she would not speak to the media during that tournament, saying the interactions were sometimes uncomfortable and would create doubts for her on the court. After her first-round victory in Paris, Osaka was fined $15,000 for skipping her mandatory news conference and threatened by the four grand slam tournaments with disqualification or suspension if she continued to avoid the media.
Osaka, 23, then pulled out of that tournament, saying she deals with anxiety before news conferences and has experienced bouts of depression in recent years.
“Believe it or not, I am naturally introverted and do not court the spotlight,” she wrote for Time. “I always try to push myself to speak up for what I believe to be right, but that often comes at a cost of great anxiety.”
Osaka has not played in a tournament since Paris, and also sat out Wimbledon, which ends on Sunday. She will return to competition at the Tokyo Olympics, which open on 23 July, and where she will represent her native Japan.
“It has become apparent to me that literally everyone either suffers from issues related to their mental health or knows someone who does,” Osaka wrote in her essay, adding later: “I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to talk about it.”
She said the support of the public, and people who had experienced fame themselves, had helped.
“I want to thank everyone who supported me,” she wrote. “There are too many to name, but I want to start with my family and friends, who have been amazing. There is nothing more important than those relationships. I also want to thank those in the public eye who have supported, encouraged and offered such kind words. Michelle Obama, Michael Phelps, Steph Curry, Novak Djokovic, Meghan Markle, to name a few.”
On the topic of news conferences, Osaka said she thinks the “format itself is out of date and in great need of a refresh.”
She also proposed giving tennis players “a small number of ‘sick days’ per year, where you are excused from your press commitments without having to disclose your personal reasons. I believe this would bring sport in line with the rest of society.”
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