Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka says she felt ‘ungrateful’ for not being able to appreciate life as a player on Tour in recent months.
The former world No.1 has spoken openly about her mental health issues since announcing she would not be conducting press conferences at the French Open. It was at the Grand Slam where she revealed she has been coping with depression and social anxiety since 2018. Shortly after she took a break from the sport before returning to competition at the Tokyo Olympics.
Osaka returned to press conferences earlier this week at the Western and Southern Open but it didn’t go as smoothly as she would have wanted. She started to cry halfway through after being questioned about how she balances her relationship with the media and trying to promote her various interests. The question was later blasted by Osaka’s agent who accused the journalist of being a ‘bully.’
Speaking further about her relationship with the media on Wednesday, the 23-year-old said in recent months she had stopped appreciating her own achievements as an athlete.
“I have been thinking about this since the last time I sat here (in press). I was wondering why was I so affected, what made me not want to do media in the first place,” Osaka said following her win over Coco Gauff in Cincinnati.
“Then I was thinking, I’m wondering if I was scared because sometimes I would see headlines of players losing and then the headline the next day would be like a collapse or they’re not that great anymore.’
“I was thinking me waking up every day, for me, I should feel like I’m winning. Like the choice to go out there and play, to go see fans that people come out and watch me play, that itself is an accomplishment. And I’m not sure when along the way I started desensitizing that. It started not being like an accomplishment for me. So I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact.”
Osaka admits the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic might have also taken its toll on her with numerous rules being implemented on the Tour. Such as the use of tournament bubbles where players are restricted as to where they can go.
Now the Japanese tennis player says events happening around the world in places such as Haiti and Afghanistan have helped shape her perspective on things. This week Osaka has pledged to donate all of the prize money she earns to the victims of the devastating Haiti earthquake.
“But seeing the state of the world, how everything is in Haiti and Afghanistan right now is definitely really crazy, and for me to just be hitting a tennis ball in the United States right now and have people come and watch me play is… I would want to be myself in this situation rather than anyone else in the world.” She said.
Osaka will play Jill Teichmann in the third round on Thursday.
