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News & General Discussion => News Stories and Current Events => Topic started by: Shiranu on May 31, 2021, 06:30:07 PM

Title: Naomi Osaka Withdraws from French Open Due to Mental Health
Post by: Shiranu on May 31, 2021, 06:30:07 PM
I know this is probably a pretty niche audience the story itself is relevant to, but I think the underlying issue is pretty important across society.

Naomi Osaka, who is currently the #1 ranked women's singles player in the world, was fined $15,000 for not agreeing to do a press conference and then threatened with being kicked out of the upcoming French Open and today she decided that she wouldn't be attending the French Open.

For those interested, I'll spoil her Twitter post bellow, but long story short is that she has been struggling with depression since 2018 and has severe social anxiety, and these were flaring up really bad so she decided to let the press know she wasn't in a good mental state to do a conference.

While this is one case in a sport a lot of people really don't care at all about, the response to it and the fact it happened in the first place are indicative of a much deeper issue; sports have become too commercialized (I know, radical statement) and are neither about the sport itself anymore and, worse yet, are completely indifferent to the well-being of it's employees.

I would say half the responses I have seen are, "How dare this spoiled bitch behave like this? If she doesn't want to do press conferences, she should go be a teacher then because she doesn't deserve to be a professional athlete." ... when did professional sports become about how many ads you can sell and how you can make someone money rather than how good you were on the court.

There is a growing movement within the sports community to try to bring attention to the mental health of it's players, and I hope this can be a flashpoint for more meaningful discussion and action on the issue... and who knows, maybe people will also start to realise that we can have professional sports and top-level athletes without all the commercial bullshit surrounding it (which also would make it far more accessible for the working class to enjoy).


Her statement...
[spoiler]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2vCJLzWEAAfREb?format=png&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2vCJsXXMAcy2ZN?format=jpg&name=large (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2vCJsXXMAcy2ZN?format=jpg&name=large)[/spoiler]