No Comment
Newsweek Europe|January 05 - 12, 2024 (Double Issue)
The story behind tennis megastar Naomi Osaka’s refusal to participate in press conferences due to mental health and how she brought the issue front and center for athletes
BEN ROTHENBERG
No Comment

Four-time Grand Slam tennis champion and the highest-paid woman athlete in sports, Japanese-Haitian-American Naomi Osaka made headlines and sparked national conversations as a champion of both racial justice and mental health. She was responsible for a halt in the run-up tournament to the 2020 U.S. Open following the shooting and resulting paralysis of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer; donned seven different masks drawing attention to more names and stories of racial injustice for each match she played in the U.S. Open (which she won); and then, before the 2021 French Open, announced she would not sit for press conferences, citing mental health. When the tournament levied strict fines and threatened severe punishments including possible disqualification-Osaka withdrew from the tournament after her first-round win and became the face of conversations around athletes' mental health.

Now after a break since September 2022 and the birth of a daughter-a reinvigorated Osaka, 26, plans to return to the court in January 2024 with the goal of adding "eight" more Grand Slam titles to the four she has already won. She told Shuzo Matsuoka, the Japanese TV personality and former tennis pro: "It makes me very excited to return to the sport."

NAOMI OSAKA: HER JOURNEY TO FINDING HER POWER AND HER VOICE (Dutton, January) by journalist Ben Rothenberg tells the story of Osaka's rise to stardom, her challenges and successes. This excerpt from the book shares the behindthe-scenes story of how one woman brought mental health issues front and center to the tennis world and beyond.

Denne historien er fra January 05 - 12, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra January 05 - 12, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA NEWSWEEK EUROPESe alt
Falling for Romance
Newsweek Europe

Falling for Romance

A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters

time-read
5 mins  |
November 15, 2024
Cracking the Norse Code
Newsweek Europe

Cracking the Norse Code

Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans

time-read
4 mins  |
November 15, 2024
Monumental Shift
Newsweek Europe

Monumental Shift

The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves

time-read
6 mins  |
November 15, 2024
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
Newsweek Europe

'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'

It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.

time-read
10 mins  |
November 15, 2024
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Newsweek Europe

'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'

Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program

time-read
3 mins  |
November 15, 2024
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'
Newsweek Europe

Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'

Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high

time-read
3 mins  |
November 15, 2024
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
Newsweek Europe

China's 'Silent Chemical War'

The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance

time-read
5 mins  |
November 15, 2024
HARSH HEADWINDS
Newsweek Europe

HARSH HEADWINDS

President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH

time-read
7 mins  |
November 15, 2024
Bridget Everett
Newsweek Europe

Bridget Everett

BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 08, 2024
Amber Ruffin
Newsweek Europe

Amber Ruffin

A LATE-NIGHT COMEDY SHOW ON CNN? YES, and it's a game show, too.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 08, 2024