Princess Naomi Osaka’s comical press conference ban

The immaturity, preciousness and hypocrisy of Naomi Osaka leaves me speechless. Having told everyone to speak out against the injustices of this world, she’s decided to clam up.

Naomi Osaka putting herself above every other player has gone down poorly

The immaturity, preciousness and hypocrisy of Naomi Osaka leaves me speechless. Having told everyone to speak out against the injustices of this world, she’s decided to clam up, refusing to do press conferences at the French Open … while being happy enough to pocket the millions of dollars in prizemoney being offered by the very tournament and government body she’s flipping the bird to.

Trailblazer? Come off it. Try princess. If Osaka is so appalled by the horrors of the softest press conferences in world sport – her boycott is so comical I initially thought it was a joke – she could have made a real stand by withdrawing from the French Open.

That would have been a statement worth listening to, a stand that involved some sacrifice. A refusal to play because of the “archaic” system of making post-match comments would have been a comment to be taken seriously. What she doing now is lame tokenism.

Change the rule about non-appearances at media commitments performed for the benefit of the tennis-loving public, the millions of fans of the elite players and the corporate sponsors that sign the tournament and personal cheques that make Osaka the richest female athlete in the world. If you don’t want to help the tournament and sport with off-court requirements, no problem. Here’s the door.

Osaka has begun to think of herself as above the sport. She’s in the privileged position of playing the French Open. If she doesn’t like how its run, before, during and after matches, she’s free to not play.

She’s is in the very privileged position, compared to flat-broke Olympians, of playing a two-week tournament that carries a purse of $53 million. She’s in the very, very privileged position, compared to penny-pinching Olympians needing to fund their own careers, of earning $64 million per year in off-court endorsements.

Osaka is in the very, very very privileged position, compared to anonymous and invisible Olympians, of having a governing body that has organised global television coverage of her matches to millions of viewers. Is she not thankful for this?

Her stance is petulant; not even Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have been so uppity. Osaka will have her hand out for the prizemoney and global exposure, but then stick her nose in the air and deem yourself the only one out of 256 singles players who doesn’t have to contribute to the narrative.

Osaka had the temerity to tell the ITF to pass on her fines to mental-health charities. She believes she can govern the governing body? Does she have a better suggestion than post-match press conferences? The off-court pouting and petulance mirrors a lot of her on-court behaviour. Even her victory over Petra Kvitova in the 2019 Australian Open final involved embarrassing behaviour when the match wasn’t going to her liking.

She’s told the ITF to give money to mental-health charities. How much of her prizemoney will she contribute? She will collect $2.2 million if she wins at Roland Garros. Any of that going to charity? Or is that too much of an actual sacrifice?

Roger Federer does press conferences in about five different languages. He would rather not do them, but he knows they’re important. If companies and television broadcasters are prepared to make players rich, they deserve some bang for their bucks. And Federer thinks if people care enough about him to watch him play a match, he cares enough about them to talk them through it afterwards.

Ash Barty and Rafael Nadal are naturally quiet souls who nevertheless speak easily enough in these situations. Both have politely suggested Osaka is out of line. She has never been troubled by post-victory conferences. She just doesn’t like them after losses, and the losses have been piling up lately.

If she wants to speak up about mental health, she should actually speak up about mental health. Instagram posts are token gestures. If the issue is so important to Osaka, and if she is majorly afflicted by it, she should have gone to her first press conference in Paris and spoken for an hour about it.

The floor belongs to an athlete in a press conference. They can talk about whatever they want. If Osaka had sat down and said I have something to say about an important issue, we’d be all ears. Instagram posts are not a conversation. They’re quick remarks designed for popularity that take no time from your day and require no sacrifice.

Osaka’s most recent press conference was in Rome on May 9. She received 13 questions in something that took 10 minutes from her precious day.

Two questions were along the lines of, how’s the preparation for Roland Garros? Harrowing stuff. One question was about the difference between clay courts and hard courts. Practically the Spanish Inquisition. One question was basically a congratulations for her Laureus Award. Leave the poor girl alone.

Five questions were about her becoming the face of Louis Vitton, co-chairing the Met Gala and meeting Rihanna. Make it stop. There was a question about her clothes line. Her brand of clothing, not the Hills hoist. And there was one question about her loss and the lessons to be learned. No wonder she walked out of such a grilling and thought, never again.

Osaka putting herself above every other player in the world has gone down poorly in the locker room. Is she in there with the rest of them? Or does the diva have her own trailer?