The reaction to Naomi’s decision to leave the French Open back in June was utterly predictable: prominent players like Serena Williams, Coco Gauff and Billie Jean King, who understand what it’s like to navigate the world of top-level tennis offered their support. Commentators such as Piers Morgan, on the other hand, decided to criticise her decision to shun the press as a way of protecting her declining mental wellbeing.

To many of us, it’s likely unsurprising to learn that a young, mixed-race woman at the pinnacle of her career now needs to take a break. Who wouldn’t struggle with the consistent press attention and calls to comment on distressing and triggering issues like racism and sexism on a near-daily basis? According to two-time Olympian Ashley Nelson, these two factors are much more to blame for Naomi’s decline than the pressure that comes from competing.

“While what Naomi is going through is very sad, it’s nothing to do with the fact that she’s a young woman at the height of her career,” she tells Stylist. “When you’re in elite sport, you have every right after a competition – if you haven’t performed well – to not talk to the press. After a competition, your arousal is very high. You might not be thinking very clearly and you might not want the press asking you questions that leave you very exposed.” Despite that apparent right, however, Naomi was fined by the French Open on 30 May 2021 for refusing to engage with reporters.

Nelson, co-founder of personal training company The Athlete Method and ambassador for the mental health charity Sane, explains that one of the biggest challenges for Black women in sport is “being seen as the aggressor” – something that can make them vulnerable to press attacks. You only have to look at how Serena Williams has been covered by cartoonists and reporters in the past to see how athletic strength and power are manipulated into overt misogynoir.

Naomi Osaka is reduced to tears by the media – highlighting the upsetting pressures that Black female athletes face