Team Naomi. Naomi Osaka‘s Cincinnati Enquirer moment led her agent, Stuart Duguid, to call a reporter a “bully” and accuse him of trying to “intimidate” the professional tennis player with his questions and “appalling behavior.”
At a Zoom press conference on Monday, August 16, New York Times writer Ben Rothenberg revealed that Naomi had a tense moment with Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer after the reporter asked her an “aggressively toned question” about her decision to not do press interviews for the 2021 French Open in May. “Well, that went well for a while, until it didn’t,” Rothenberg tweeted. He continued, “Four Qs or so went smoothly, Naomi was doing well. Then someone from Cincinnati Enquirer asked her a fairly aggressively toned question about how she benefits from a high-media profile but doesn’t like talking to media. Osaka tried to engage, but after her answer began crying.”
Rothenberg went on to report that the Women’s Tennis Association paused the conference for Naomi to leave the room and recollect herself before she returned to finish her interviews. “The WTA moderator paused the press conference. Osaka left the room, recollected herself, and returned to answer the remaining question in English,” Rothenberg tweeted. He continued, “Osaka then answered Japanese Qs to complete her press conference. This was deeply frustrating. The tennis media people who know Naomi (and whom Naomi knows) had it going smoothly, and then a local reporter completely derailed it. Don’t blame this on ‘tennis media’ again, folks.”
In another tweet, Rothenberg criticized Daugherty for his “aggressive tone” in his question. “The topic itself wasn’t terrible, but the aggressive tone from an unfamiliar person, after Naomi had already spoken in an earlier answer about how that’s what she finds difficult in press conferences, got things going completely awry. (Naomi had many good moments otherwise!)” he tweeted.
https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1427323397055340545?s=20
Source: Instagram
Naomi’s agent, Stuart Duguid, wasn’t as forgiving toward Daugherty. He slammed the reporter for his “appalling behavior” and claimed that he was trying to “intimidate” Naomi with his tone. “The bully at The Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player / media relations are so fraught right now,” he said in a statement after the press conference. “Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behavior.”
He continued, “And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off-court success to the media is a myth—don’t be so self-indulgent.”
After the conference, the Cincinnati Enquirer defended Daugherty and the question in a statement to E! News. “We appreciate the respectful dialogue with Ms. Osaka at the press conference. It was a straightforward question that we feel led to a meaningful exchange. That said, we sincerely regret that our questioning upset her in any way,” Beryl Love, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Executive Editor, said.
The press conference was Naomi’s first formal press conference since she withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon in May and June. At the time of the French Open, Naomi announced that she wouldn’t be doing press interviews because of her mental health. “I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” she said. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”
As a result, Osaka was fined $15,000 by the Roland-Garros referee, who stated that tennis players are required to participate in press conferences at Grand Slam tournaments. She was also told that if he missed more press conferences, she would be disqualified from future opens. In response, Naomi announced her decision to withdraw from the US Open. “I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer,” she said. “More importantly I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly. The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.”
A day later, a representative for Naomi confirmed that he had also withdrawn from Wimbledon. “Naomi won’t be playing Wimbledon this year,” the statement read. “She is taking some personal time with friends and family.” Though Naomi withdrew from Wimbledon and the US Open, she did compete in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics for Japan, where she lost in the third round. In the end, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland won the gold medal in the women’s single tennis event; Markéta Vondroušová of the Czech Republic won the silver medal; and Elina Svitolina won the bronze medal.
Total Olympics by Jeremy Fuchs
Image: Workman Publishing.
For more about the Olympics, check out Jeremy Fuchs’ 2021 book, Total Olympics: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic, and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing. The book, which was called an “indispensable Olympic resource” and “pure fun” by The New York Times, follows the history of the Olympics, from how it began in a a Victorian English town called Much Wenlock to the discontinued sports that are no longer around like tug of war, firefighting, painting and, yes, live pigeon shooting. The bestseller, which features hundreds of true tales and historical photographs, also includes stories from both internationally known and little known athletes like gymnast Shun Fujimoto, who led his team to victory with a broken knee.
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