Naomi Osaka Uncomfortable and Overwhelmed when Talking to the Media
Osaka Upset with the Media
This week Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after the controversy surrounding her refusal to speak to the media at the tournament. She also revealed ‘bouts of depression’.
Last week she tweeted:
"I've often felt that people have no regard for athlete's health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,"
"I believe that whole situation is kicking a person while they're down and I don't understand the reasoning behind it."
Osaka’s Withdrawal from the French Open
"The truth is I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.
"Anyone that knows me knows I am introverted and anyone that has seen me at tournaments will notice that I'm often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.
"Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I want to apologise to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world's media.
"I get really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can.
"So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious, so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences. I announced it preemptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that.”
Introverts and Public Speaking
As an introvert, I understand how she feels. While I now enjoy public speaking—at least during and after the event, not before—and accept it’s part of my job, I couldn’t have done it at 23 years old.
It seems fair enough that she wouldn’t want to participate in press conferences and let’s face it, the media can be harsh. It’s a fair decision to pull out of something if it’s at the expense of your wellbeing.
I don’t typically follow sports or sports news, but the headlines captured my attention and I wanted to see how Osaka responds during press conferences. I found a recent interview after her loss at the Miami Open.
There are certainly signs throughout the press conferences that Osaka is stressed and uncomfortable—at times overwhelmed—as she talks to the media. There’s an absence of positive emotion and the presence of negative emotion, stress and discomfort indicators.
Osaka’s Nonverbal Behaviour
Osaka Press Conference after her Loss at the Miami Open.
Osaka Body Language and Nonverbal Communication Analysis
Emotion of Sadness
At the start of the press conference, before any questions are asked, we see Osaka express the emotion of sadness. The facial expression of sadness is distinct and evident with the inwards and upwards movement of the inner corners of the eyebrows, as seen in the diagram. As she answers questions, we can observe another giveaway of sadness, in the downward direction of her eye gaze.
Stress Behaviours
Throughout the press conferences, Osaka displays several stress indicators including gasping, high blink rate, compressed lips and self-soothing behaviours such as cracking knuckles and rubbing hands. There’s no doubt she feels the pressure.
Eyelid Flutter
What’s interesting is that Osaka often displays an eyelid flutter, a rapid, clustered blinking that indicates she is mentally struggling at the points where it occurs. These are evident both as she listens to questions and when she is answering them. Since an eyelid flutter occurs when an individual is experiencing a high cognitive or emotional load, for Osaka, this could mean she is struggling to find the right words to answer the question, or she’s experiencing overwhelming emotion.
Osaka Holds Negative Inward Feelings
Eyelid flutters and expression of negative emotions like contempt and disgust are observed at times when Osaka refers to herself or her performance. While this isn’t an unusual observation, it does confirm she holds inward negative feelings.
Osaka’s Behavioural Responses to the Media
Around 9:31 Minutes
Let’s focus on a specific point in the video to see Osaka’s behavioural response as she listens to a question posed by a Japanese journalist.
Osaka Listens to the Journalist’s Question
There are signs of stress and discomfort around the question. As Osaka listens to the question we can observe an eye blocking behaviour that looks like a long blink and indicates dislike or discomfort.
This is immediately followed by an eyelid flutter, a rapid, clustered blinking indicating she is mentally struggling at this point. An eyelid flutter occurs when an individual is experiencing a high cognitive or emotional load.
We then observe a gulp, another eye block and eyelid flutter. Stress indicators, high blink rate and self-soothing behaviours (the hands touching/rubbing) are also present, although these are observed throughout the press conference, so aren’t specifically triggered by this question.
As Osaka answers the question she appears defeated, giving out an audible gasp. Her reply, once she figures out how to answer, seems authentic.
Wrapping Up
It appears that Osaka’s claim that the “situation is kicking a person while they're down”, rings true. Osaka genuinely does "get really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can.”
