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French Open’s response to Naomi Osaka is a shameful moment for tennis | Tumaini Carayol

The world No 2 has been treated as a threat, a familiar reception that black athletes receive when they step outside the boxOn Monday evening the four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka, the brightest young star across the world of tennis, withdrew from Roland Garros because she felt that her attempts to preserve her mental wellbeing were a distraction to her peers. In other words, it marks a shameful moment for tennis.Osaka had announced in a statement last week that she would not conduct her press obligations during the tournament, a decision that led to six days of attention and widespread discussion across the internet. While Osaka’s initial announcement and communication was far from perfect, it was bold of her...

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We’re not the good guys: Osaka shows up problems of press conferences | Jonathan Liew

Young athletes are expected to answer the most intimate questions in a cynical and often predatory environmentRegular attendees of Arsenal press conferences at the Emirates Stadium – in the before-times, when these things still happened – will tell of a mysterious character by the name of First Question Man. Nobody ever discovered who FQM worked for, or if he was even a journalist at all. His only real talent, if you can call it that, was to sit in the front row and make sure he asked the first question, usually by barking it while everyone was still taking their seats.Why FQM did this was never clear. It can’t have been ego: I never met anybody who knew his real...

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