The most unusual tennis champion turned 28 today

Usually, in such cases, our headline is somewhat different – ​​"celebrating her birthday." However, Naomi Osaka is a special case – to say that she's "celebrating" anything is too risky.

The fact is that Naomi is now known internationally not so much for her past tennis victories (for example, four Grand Slam tournaments), but for her mental health issues, which she flaunts, although this is unacceptable in sports, or indeed among celebrities in any form of show business (and tennis is both a sport and a show business).

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It all started several years ago, when Osaka, at the height of her powers and fame, suddenly refused to speak at a post-match press conference, claiming that journalists were asking inappropriate questions that were depressing her, and that she was an introvert.

And then Osaka made a mistake – she announced that she would pay the prescribed fine, but would do things her own way. The mistake was that, with her annual earnings in the tens of millions of dollars, a fine of a few tens of thousands was insignificant—and she was immediately accused of considering herself "above others." (Incidentally, during matches, Osaka also behaved in ways unacceptable in tennis—throwing down her racket in frustration, etc.)

Her stance provoked a mixed reaction—some tennis players supported her, but most of the superstars of yesteryear declared her wrong. They argued that some of the highest salaries in sports come from advertisers and sponsors, which imposes certain obligations on athletes.

However, things got worse—Osaka withdrew from tournaments several times, including citing fatigue. This explanation, again, is strange for athletes—everyone gets tired, and international tennis players face extreme workloads.

After this, Osaka went on maternity leave, gave birth to a daughter (but even then, she complained on social media about postpartum depression), and returned to the sport – but she slipped from the top spots in the rankings to the bottom of the top 100. At the same time, she can, again, talk on social media about how during a match she suddenly felt like her body was alien (or lost all awareness of it), etc., which is not common among athletes.

Thus, although Osaka has ceased to be a leading tennis player (incidentally, she is currently performing successfully in a tournament in Japan), she has come to the forefront in another way. Essentially, Osaka has raised the fundamental question of whether the traditional image of sports stars should continue to be maintained – or whether they can be presented to the public with the weaknesses of "ordinary people."

Photo: ВВС