A reporter asked how Osaka’s training for the upcoming hard-court season was progressing and for her thoughts on the events in Haiti, where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday has left more than 1,300 dead.
After stepping away for four minutes, the news conference moderator and Osaka could be heard off-mic discussing how to proceed.
My question was, I guess, was, you also have outside interests beyond tennis that are served by having the platform that the media presents to you.
Osaka: For me, I feel like, this is something that — I can’t really speak for everybody, I can only speak for myself — but ever since I was younger, I’ve 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 am a tennis player, that’s why a lot of people are interested in me.
Osaka’s agent, Stuart Duguid, later said in a statement to a freelance reporter for The New York Times that “the bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player / media relations are so fraught right now.
Osaka, who won the Australian Open in February, withdrew from the French Open before her second-round match and skipped Wimbledon entirely as she cited a need for a mental health break.
“In that moment, I wasn’t really proud, it was something I needed to do for myself,” Osaka said Monday about her withdrawal from Roland Garros.
“There are times where there’s people I don’t know that well and they ask really, really sensitive questions, and especially after a loss that kind of amplifies a bit.