NFL legend suggests Naomi Osaka should speak to media because of money she makes
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 6303
NFL great Brett Favre has suggested that Naomi Osaka should speak to the media because of the money she makes. Osaka, ranked at No. 2 in the world, refused to do a press conference after her first round win at the French Open and a day later pulled out of the event.
“We should talk to the media. I’m not saying you have to; you chose to be fined or not,” Favre said on his podcast Bolling with Favre, “I do think athletes are held to a different level and a different standard, and rightfully so, because of the money we make”.
In 1998, Favre skipped a press conference after being upset following a loss. “They said, ‘You’ve got to do it,’ and I said, ‘I’m not doing it,'” Favre said, later adding: “I should have done the press conference and just owned up.
It was one of those things where I said, ‘If I don’t have anything good to say, I’m not saying anything at all’ – well, go in there and say that!” Favre revealed he was fined $25,000. “At the time, there was nothing written into the quote-unquote rule book for media.
In other words, I was not required,” Favre said, adding: “There wasn’t anything that if I chose not to speak I would be fined, so I chose not to speak and was fined $25,000, and then that was written into the rule book after that”.
Osaka didn't want to be a distraction
“I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," Osaka said in Paris.
"I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. "More importantly I would never trivialise 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."