Naomi Osaka reduced to tears at first press conference since French Open

Naomi Osaka's first press conference since she pulled out of the French Open in May was particularly highly-charged as the 23-year-old ended up in tears.

Osaka pulled out of the Grand Slam earlier this year after she was slapped with multiple fines for skipping mandatory post-match media briefings.

In her first media duties since then, Osaka was posed a question about how she has benefitted greatly from media attention, but tries to avoid speaking to the press.

Osaka responded to the reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer, identified as Paul Daugherty, by explaining she was proud of and stood by her decision to refuse the media briefings.

Speaking at the 2021 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Osaka explained: "I felt like it was something I needed to do for myself. I felt like I holed up in my house for a couple of weeks, and I didn't know if people would be looking at me in a different way than they usually did before.

"But I think the biggest eye-opener was going to the Olympics and having other athletes come up to me and say they were really glad that I did what I did. After all that, I'm proud of what I did and I think it was something that needed to be done."

It was clear soon after that Osaka was in some distress, pulling her hat over her face and wiping tears away with her sleeve before quietly sobbing into the microphone.

Osaka's press officer quickly halted the question and answer session, before the young star returned to answer one final question minutes later.

While the exact wording of the question that upset her remains unclear, another reporter who was present has shed some light on the situation.

Tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg tweeted that the Cincinnati reporter "asked (Osaka) a fairly aggressively toned question about how she benefits from a high-media profile but doesn't like talking to media."

Osaka's agent, Stuart Duguid, released a statement lambasting the question.

"The bully at the Cincinnati Enquirer is the epitome of why player / media relations are so fraught right now," Duguid said.

"Everyone on that Zoom will agree that his tone was all wrong and his sole purpose was to intimidate. Really appalling behaviour.

"And this insinuation that Naomi owes her off court success to the media is a myth – don’t be so self-indulgent."

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