“Felt I Was Very Ungrateful”: Naomi Osaka Reveals Why She Doesn’t Like to Face the Press

Naomi Osaka hasn’t got along with the press conference thing yet. She recently broke down during her pre-tournament press conference at the Cincinnati Masters 2021 and decided to walk off.

In an exclusive interview to the New York Times, Naomi Osaka revealed what she thought after the incident that occurred during the pre-tournament press conference at the Cincinnati Masters 2021.

“I was wondering why was I was so affected I guess, like what made me not want to do media in the first place. And then I was thinking and wondering if I was scared because sometimes I would see headlines of players losing and the headline the next day would be a ‘collapse’ or ‘they’re not that great anymore’,” said Osaka in the interview.

Osaka opened up about her reaction and mentioned that she tried to find out why she doesn’t face the press. She stated that it is perhaps because she is too scared and believes that the media portrays an individual very badly after he or she loses any match.

Watch This Story: How Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, and Others Travel

“Felt I was very ungrateful”- Naomi Osaka

Osaka explained that she wants to wake up as a champion every day and feel like she will win. However, after seeing so much negative stuff in the media, she was not able to play freely and enjoy in front of her fans. As a result, she developed this tendency of avoiding the press.

“And so then I was thinking, me waking up every day I should feel like I’m winning. Like the choice to go out there and play, to go see fans. That people come out and watch me play, that itself is an accomplishment. I’m not sure when along the way I started desensitizing that. It started not being an accomplishment for me, so I felt I was very ungrateful on that fact,” added the Japanese star.

Naomi Osaka recently advanced to the pre-quarters of the Cincinnati Masters 2021 after surviving a tough match against Coco Gauff. Fans have huge expectations from her and want her to finish the year as the World No.1 player. Will she be able to conquer Cincinnati this year?

Also Read: Naomi Osaka Fights Back Against Coco Gauff to Earn a Spot at Cincinnati Open 2021 Round 3