Lessons from the French Open

Earlier this summer, just ahead of the French Open where she was seeded 2nd, Naomi Osaka made headlines with her decision to skip post-match interviews. In a social media post she commented that speaking with the media was detrimental to her mental health. This set off a bit of a fire-storm as professional athletes look to redefine their relationship with journalists.

"This is part of a broader trend that we've seen among athletes taking control of their own personal narrative...which is: We're human beings...and we're not going to shut up and play or shut up and dribble. We're going to use our platforms. We're going to talk about things that matter to us, that impact us, that impact our communities."

Kavitha Davidson, in a recent episode of NPR's All Things Considered​

Osaka has been speaking about things that matter to her and seems to be taking even more control of her own narrative. In addition to her activity on social media channels, she’s guest editing the August issue of Racquet [racquetmag.com]—a beautiful magazine all about tennis—as well as a just released Netflix documentary.

While it might be a bit much to start looking for a guest editing gig, or line up a director for the documentary about your rise to fame, I’m hoping Osaka’s bold steps provide inspiration for creating your own blog post or maybe podcast. If it does, please tag me (@jannekeritchie) so I can listen, read and share.