NFL legend suggests Naomi Osaka should speak to media because of money she makes



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NFL legend suggests Naomi Osaka should speak to media because of money she makes

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."