Words have power. And Naomi Osaka is vowing to be kinder to herself moving forward.
The tennis star took to social media to post an open letter about her recent experiences and to express her gratitude for her support network.
“I’m gonna try to celebrate myself and my accomplishments more, I think we all should. … Your life is your own and you shouldn’t value yourself on other people’s standards,” the note reads in part.
“I know I give my heart to everything I can and if that’s not good enough for some then my apologies but I can’t burden myself with those expectations anymore.”
Osaka has made efforts to try and protect her mental health, which some members of the media have taken issue with.
During a recent interview, Osaka was reduced to tears by an aggressive reporter.
“You are not crazy about dealing with us, especially in this format, yet you have a lot of outside interests that are served by having a media platform,” the reporter from The Cincinnati Enquirer says. “I guess my question is, how do you balance the two and also do you have anything you’d like to share about what you did say about Simone Biles?”
Osaka then asks, “When you say I’m “not crazy about dealing with you guys,” what does that refer to?”
The reporter replies, “Well, you’ve stated too that you especially don’t like the press conference format and yet that seems to be obviously the most widely used means of communicating to the media and through the media to the public.”
“Hmm, that’s interesting,” Osaka mused. “I would say the occasion, like, when to do the press conferences is what I feel is the most difficult, but … [pause] hmmm … [long pause] … sorry, I’m thinking … [another long pause].”
Her team slammed the “bullying” journo immediately after the briefing. Osaka is still learning to find the balance between delivering to the media in a professional capacity which not allowing intrusive reporters to destabilize her.
