French Open 2021: 'It could have been handled better', Mahesh Bhupathi on Naomi Osaka media boycott saga

Women’s world No 2 Naomi Osaka’s recent withdrawal from the ongoing French Open has stunned the sporting fraternity, and former Indian tennis star and Davis Cupper Mahesh Bhupathi shared his views on the controversial episode. Just days after announcing on Twitter on 27 May that she would skip press conferences at Roland Garros, Osaka was fined $15,000 by the French Open orgainsers on Sunday and threatened with major consequences including potential suspensions from future Grand Slams.

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— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 26, 2021

On Monday, following her first-round win over Romania’s Patricia Maria Țig, Osaka confirmed her withdrawal from the Grand Slam in another statement on Twitter, revealing that she even suffered “long bouts of depression” since the 2018 US Open win, where she beat Serena Williams.

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— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 31, 2021

On Osaka’s initial decision to boycott press conferences, Bhupathi said that he disagrees with Osaka’s views, adding that the decision could have been handled better. “I, having done a few press conferences myself, disagree with what she says. There are two aspects to it — I think press is part and parcel of the circus you kind of sign up for and it goes as deep as becoming part of your routine. It becomes part of a responsibility specifically for top tennis players,” Bhupathi said in an interaction on News18 TV channel on Tuesday. “Do the press kind of ask difficult questions? Absolutely. I for one, have had enough runs with the press to know that, but you always have the option in the press room to say ‘I don’t want to answer that, next question’, you know not to deal with it. You are in control of a narrative, so I definitely think it could have definitely been handled better,” he added. While the Japanese star received support from fellow tennis player Coco Gauff, former player Mardy Fish amongst others, she faced severe criticism from French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton, who said that her move to boycott media was “not acceptable”. Bhupathi attributed this issue to a “bad timing from every perspective”. “All of us who’ve seen Osaka win from the first time she did against Serena in that controversial match. In all her interviews, you know that she’s kind of an introvert, the way she answers questions, she’s very soft-spoken. “I think it was also a little bit of bad timing from every perspective, because literally 4-5 days before that, I think the media statements came out, Forbes announced that she was the highest-paid woman athlete in the world. If you put all those pieces together, I don’t think it could have been worse timing,” the 46-year-old added. Bhupathi also shared his views on mental health affecting players, citing that in an individual sport like tennis, the pressures of a game are bound to be different. “Mental health is a very serious issue. I am not sure if every athlete is dealing with it. I think a lot of athletes do deal with it because it’s a very individual sport (tennis), a very lonely sport. The pressures are different. The need to succeed — you only win money if you win matches, it can drive a lot of people to different forms of depression. It’s a very serious issue, but I am not sure, you know, when you have an injury, you take some time off, you rehab, you come back.” He even gave the example of Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell, who had revealed to have depression during the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Maxwell decided to take a break from cricket in late 2019 but returned to action a year later. “We saw this last year or the year before with Glenn Maxwell. He took some time off the field, went away, fixed himself, came back and he’s having an incredible IPL,” Bhupati said. Bhupathi also added that Osaka could become the face of women’s tennis in the upcoming generation. “I am a fan of Naomi. With Maria retired and Serena at the twilight of her career, I think she’s going to be the face of women’s tennis for a long time, but it’s a mixture of bad decision and bad advice that has escalated into this unnecessary episode of the last five days,” he added.