5 ms·

> An athlete's job is to be the best at their sport. I disagree. Sport has always been part athleticism and part showmanship. At the end of the day, it's a bus

by dvt 5y ago

> An athlete's job is to be the best at their sport. I disagree. Sport has always been part athleticism and part showmanship. At the end of the day, it's a business, and showmanship increases the bottom line. Partaking in interviews is also contractually mandatory (kind of like if you're a movie star). I think she's hijacking a hot-button issue in the zeitgeist (mental health) just because she doesn't want to do the post-game interviews after a loss (which I'm sure is not fun). And either way -- even if it were genuinely a mental health issue -- her, of all people, would quite literally have all the resources in the world to deal with it. Just do your job. You already make an absolutely obscene amount of money, anyway.

gamblor956 5y ago
She refused to do the interview after she won her match, and generally as the #2 player in the world she has lost very few matches... Moreover, the contract which requires her to speak to the media also says the penalty for not doing so is a single monetary fine, which she has already said she accepts as the cost for not participating. The news is that the Grand Slam events are attempting to unilaterally change the rules on her to include additional penalties not provided for in the contract.
- votepaunchy 5y ago
  > she has lost very few matches... She has 7 career titles (4 grand slams!) with 134 losses. This is much better than average, but she is still almost always losing.
  - glandium 5y ago
    246 wins vs. 136 losses according to the WTA site as of writing. A lot more victories, but still a lot of losses.
  - gamblor956 5y ago
    Today I learned that the HN crowd cannot read tennis statistics. Her losses are mostly from the start of her career; her win record the past 4 years is above 80% and her career GS record is 70%.
    - dvt 5y ago
      If you're going to be snarky, at least be correct[1]. Her match win percentage ranges from 51% in 2017 (45 matches played), to 80% last year (20 matches played). [1] http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/wplayer.cgi?p=NaomiOsaka#recent-results-h http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/wplayer.cgi?p=NaomiOsa...
mLuby 5y ago
If Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps refused to do post-race interviews, they're still the best in the world at their events, and their feats would still be covered by the media. Caveat: opting out of regulations directly connected to competitors' athletic abilities (i.e. drug testing) is different. Competitive sports are slightly muddier than individual events, but the principle holds. It's called "sports entertainment" not the other way around because without the top-tier competitive sport aspect, it'd just be Survivor-like entertainment shows. And the movie star thing is different because they're literally hired for marketing purposes; the whole point of "star power" is that I'll go see any movie Tom Hanks is in. Separately, I take issue with the notion that just because you're rich, mental health should be a non-issue. That's like saying that since you can easily afford burn victim treatment, you should stop complaining and walk into the burning building.
- golemotron 5y ago
  > Separately, I take issue with the notion that just because you're rich, mental health should be a non-issue. That's like saying that since you can easily afford burn victim treatment, you should stop complaining and walk into the burning building. But if you're a firefighter and that's part of your job.. It's fun to think that we get to decide what job responsibilities are, but that's a negotiation between her and her employer.
  - mLuby 5y ago
    If we're going to be mixing metaphors here: should we expect firefighters to do post-blaze media panels where they answer questions like "how do you feel about not being able to save everyone in today's fire?" Those tears would be lucrative, and viewers can assuage their ghoulish interest with the knowledge that a portion of the ad revenue benefits the fallen firefighter's fund. –__– Also job responsibilities aren't eternally immutable. Tennis existed long before televised press conferences, and may well outlive it too. Naomi's advocating for better working conditions. Lastly, only having one source of jobs stretches the concept of "freely" entering into an employment contract. And anyway, we have higher responsibilities than the contracts we sign.

by dvt 5y ago

gamblor956 5y ago

She refused to do the interview after she won her match, and generally as the #2 player in the world she has lost very few matches... Moreover, the contract which requires her to speak to the media also says the penalty for not doing so is a single monetary fine, which she has already said she accepts as the cost for not participating. The news is that the Grand Slam events are attempting to unilaterally change the rules on her to include additional penalties not provided for in the contract.

votepaunchy 5y ago
> she has lost very few matches... She has 7 career titles (4 grand slams!) with 134 losses. This is much better than average, but she is still almost always losing.
- glandium 5y ago
  246 wins vs. 136 losses according to the WTA site as of writing. A lot more victories, but still a lot of losses.
- gamblor956 5y ago
  Today I learned that the HN crowd cannot read tennis statistics. Her losses are mostly from the start of her career; her win record the past 4 years is above 80% and her career GS record is 70%.
  - dvt 5y ago
    If you're going to be snarky, at least be correct[1]. Her match win percentage ranges from 51% in 2017 (45 matches played), to 80% last year (20 matches played). [1] http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/wplayer.cgi?p=NaomiOsaka#recent-results-h http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/wplayer.cgi?p=NaomiOsa...

mLuby 5y ago

If Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps refused to do post-race interviews, they're still the best in the world at their events, and their feats would still be covered by the media. Caveat: opting out of regulations directly connected to competitors' athletic abilities (i.e. drug testing) is different. Competitive sports are slightly muddier than individual events, but the principle holds. It's called "sports entertainment" not the other way around because without the top-tier competitive sport aspect, it'd just be Survivor-like entertainment shows. And the movie star thing is different because they're literally hired for marketing purposes; the whole point of "star power" is that I'll go see any movie Tom Hanks is in. Separately, I take issue with the notion that just because you're rich, mental health should be a non-issue. That's like saying that since you can easily afford burn victim treatment, you should stop complaining and walk into the burning building.

golemotron 5y ago
> Separately, I take issue with the notion that just because you're rich, mental health should be a non-issue. That's like saying that since you can easily afford burn victim treatment, you should stop complaining and walk into the burning building. But if you're a firefighter and that's part of your job.. It's fun to think that we get to decide what job responsibilities are, but that's a negotiation between her and her employer.
- mLuby 5y ago
  If we're going to be mixing metaphors here: should we expect firefighters to do post-blaze media panels where they answer questions like "how do you feel about not being able to save everyone in today's fire?" Those tears would be lucrative, and viewers can assuage their ghoulish interest with the knowledge that a portion of the ad revenue benefits the fallen firefighter's fund. –__– Also job responsibilities aren't eternally immutable. Tennis existed long before televised press conferences, and may well outlive it too. Naomi's advocating for better working conditions. Lastly, only having one source of jobs stretches the concept of "freely" entering into an employment contract. And anyway, we have higher responsibilities than the contracts we sign.