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Why We Need To Start Regarding Super Athletes As Humans
It seems that tennis star, Naomi Osaka’s self-imposed exit from the French Open some weeks ago, citing the need to focus on her mental health, has inadvertently had a ripple effect that’s reverberating across all genres of sports, during the height of high-stakes events that can’t afford the absence of million-dollar superstars.
When Osaka made the headlines for initially opting not to do press conferences at Roland Garros, the immediate backlash forced the 23-year-old to drop out of the annual tournament, especially after it was revealed that she was being fined $15K, and threatened with being possibly barred from participating in scheduled matches.
It was shameful and almost criminal of the officials from the French Open to outrageously punish a young woman, who is a human being first, for simply choosing to put her mental wellbeing above all else. Pushing herself beyond limits for the benefit of continuing a tradition that enriches institutions that are entrenched in white supremacy wasn’t something Osaka was willing to do.
Consider the inspiring and historic journey of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, and how during the early stages of their development, their dedicated and loving father Richard Williams, worked incredibly hard to prepare his Compton-bred Black daughters for the cruel…
