For those that had questions on why Naomi Osaka dropped out of the Australian Open, or if she nonetheless cares about being knowledgeable tennis participant, you simply acquired your reply.
Osaka tweeted out an announcement on Wednesday asserting that she might be stepping away from tennis for all the 2023 season. In the assertion, she did point out that the previous couple of years have been difficult, however she is studying from it and plans to be again for the 2024 Australian Open.
Also, she’s pregnant.
When it was introduced on Saturday that she wouldn’t be enjoying within the first tennis main of the 2023 season, the hypothesis machine began smoking with all of the questions being requested about Osaka. Does she nonetheless care about tennis? Is she solely fascinated about fame? What precisely are her psychological well being struggles? Can she ever get again to her standing as the very best participant on the planet?
I might take this second to lecture in opposition to wildly speculating about what’s going on within the lives of athletes and different celebrities. The selections that they make are none of our enterprise until they discover themselves in jail for harming one other particular person.
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But we all know that is not realistic. While Osaka did not owe us an explanation on why she elected not to play, she is famous. She is far more than just a professional tennis player. Osaka is one of the most well-known athletes in the entire world. A true A-list celebrity. Naturally, we are going to be curious about why she isn’t playing.
Anything that she says and does can, and will be used against her in the court of public opinion. She was the highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2022, even though she had a rough season. Osaka lost early in the Australian Open, French Open, and U.S. Open. She didn’t even take the court during Wimbledon due to an Achilles injury.
All of her on-court struggles in 2022 resulted in people letting their imaginations run wild on why she elected not to play in the first major tournament of the season. All of that is coming after a year in which she revealed that she was dealing with some mental health struggles that resulted in her withdrawing from the 2021 French Open. Many questioned how a lot curiosity she nonetheless has in enjoying tennis, and a few went too far within the harshness of their critiques.
In a great world, folks would have taken the information of Osaka not enjoying at face worth. They would have expressed their disappointment in one other star participant dropping out of the primary main of the season — Venus Williams and Carlos Alcaraz are additionally not enjoying — and left it at that. If they’d questions, they might have waited just a few days after which acquired an trustworthy reply from Osaka that fairly clearly explains why she won’t be enjoying.
Unfortunately, that isn’t how sports activities function. The extra well-known an athlete, the extra that each single transfer that athlete makes might be scrutinized, and the new takes come shortly, The social media accounts — each actual and bots — get rolling instantly. Then comes the weblog posts, takes on debate exhibits, after which the columns.
There is not any slowing down the hypothesis machine as soon as it will get rolling. Feed it a star, and a bit of stories that solutions who, what, and the place, however doesn’t present a how and why, and the machine can run all day. It isn’t powered by electrical energy, it’s powered by nosiness.
It would have been good if we let Osaka inform us why she wouldn’t be enjoying within the first main of the tennis season on her personal time. In well mannered society, that will truly be the proper plan of action.
But that’s not pure. So let’s simply attempt to not be imply about it.