Naomi Osaka reflects on emotional press conference, losing sight of the real 'accomplishment'

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Fresh off a win at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday, Naomi Osaka addressed her emotional press conference earlier this week that began with a question about her relationship with the media. 

A tearful Osaka briefly exited a press conference on Monday after she was asked a question by a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter who led with: "you’re not crazy about dealing with us." 

Naomi Osaka, of Japan, plays Marketa Vondrousova, of the Czech Republic, during the third round of the tennis competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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"Honestly, I was thinking about this since the last time I sat here," Osaka said Wednesday, reflecting on the incident, according to USA Today. "I was wondering why I was so affected, I guess. Like what made me not want to do media in the first place. And then I was thinking, I was wondering if I was scared because sometimes I would see headlines of players losing and then the headline the next day would be like 'a collapse' or 'they're not that great anymore.'"

She continued: "So then I was thinking, me waking up every day, for me, I should feel like I'm winning, you know? Like, the choice to go out there and play, to go see fans, that people come out and watch me play, that itself is an accomplishment. I'm not sure when along the way I started desensitizing that. It started not being an accomplishment for me. So I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact."

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Osaka shared her struggles with anxiety and mental health after withdrawing from the French Open in May because of her media responsibilities. During a Zoom call on Monday, she became visibly upset while trying to answer a question about how she balances her apparent dislike of the media and how she benefits from having her platform. 

"You're 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. I guess my question is, how do you balance the two?" the reporter asked.

Osaka struggled to answer before finally responding. She eventually left the press call before returning. 

Naomi Osaka, of Japan, reacts during her match against Maria Sakkari, of Greece, in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open tennis tournament in Miami Gardens, Fla., in this Wednesday, March 31, 2021, file photo. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

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On Wednesday, she added that the ongoing crises in Haiti and Afghanistan have given her a new perspective. 

"I think definitely this whole COVID thing was really stressful with the bubbles and not seeing people and not having the interactions. But I think, like, I guess seeing the state of the world, how everything is in Haiti, how everything is in Afghanistan right now, is definitely really crazy. And for me to just be hitting a tennis ball in the United States right now, and having people come and watch me play, is, I don't know. I would want to be myself in this situation rather than anyone else in the world."