Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is at the centre of controversy again, losing friends and alienating people as she has done throughout her chequered career. The four-time major champion and current world number 16 has been accused of poor etiquette in a match against the Romanian Sorana Cîrstea at the Australian Open.
Osaka was heard to exclaim ‘Come on!’ repeatedly as a sort of self-motivating exhortation in Thursday’s match. Nothing wrong with that, but one of her ‘come on!’s occurred between her opponent’s first and second serves and provoked Cîrstea to complain to the umpire. Osaka won the contest, but there was a testy exchange at the net and Cîrstea gave Osaka a look that would have curdled milk as she appeared to tell her, ‘You have been playing on the tour so long, you have no idea what fair play is.’ The handshake was perfunctory, to put it mildly.
A few of tennis’ luminaries have weighed in on the matter, with Martina Navratilova, Lindsey Davenport and Jelena Djokovic (Novak’s wife) calling out Osaka for her poor manners. Osaka declared herself ‘confused’ by the furore but seemed to acknowledge in a subsequent interview that she may have been at fault, citing the ‘high emotions’ involved in the contest. Cîrstea shrugged it all off later as ‘no drama’, but it was an ugly incident and an unpleasant way for the veteran to mark her 17th and final, probably, appearance at the Australian Open.
One can debate whether Osaka was being intentionally rude or just thoughtless. Tennis is the most psychologically taxing of sports and Osaka is hardly alone in struggling to contain herself during the intensity of a grand slam contest. Margaret Court Arena can be an incendiary venue where players tend to forget themselves – even go a bit loopy – as we saw with the bizarre antics of the Russian ‘bad girl’ Yulia Putintseva, who taunted the crowd with a song about rabbits on Friday. But as Davenport remarked of Osaka, you can gee yourself up in any number of ways without disrespecting your opponent. There is a time and a place for ‘Come on!’ and that time is definitely not between serves. And at 28, Osaka really ought to know how to behave on court and handle the pressure.
The reaction here in Japan has been akin to a sigh and a shoulder shrug. The country has long been ambivalent about its greatest female tennis player, perhaps because many are not convinced she really is one of their own. Osaka was born here to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father but left when she was three. She does not speak the language well and resides in California. Her brief experience of the country was overlooked initially and when she first gained fame her image was everywhere. She wore the colours of the Japanese flag as she lit up the Olympic cauldron in Tokyo in 2021. But she never quite lived up to the cultural ambassador role and is rarely even mentioned now. This row has received far more attention outside Japan than in – public broadcaster NHK has not mentioned it at all – though the online chatter has been resoundingly negative.
Osaka just does not behave as expected by the Japanese and many here are simply tired of her antics. A bad boy/girl sports star – or even just one whose behaviour is erratic – is hard to process as a concept here. Japanese sportsmen and women are considered flag carriers and expected to be discreet and respectful at all times, which they usually are. I once saw Andy Murray smash his racket into the net in a game with Kei Nishikori, whose expression of utter astonishment at this hardly exceptional outburst was a perfect snapshot of a profound cultural difference. Thus for the Japanese media, for whom the squeaky-clean baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani remains the model of what a sports star should be, Osaka is a difficult, rather embarrassing package to deal with and thus better ignored.
Her political statements and focus on non-tennis-related issues have not helped her cause. That is far less acceptable here than in the West. Osaka wore a face mask endorsing Black Lives Matter at the 2020 US Open and criticised and welcomed the resignation of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee chief Yoshihiro Mori, a former prime minister, for sexist comments – he said women talk too much. Mori was a harmless old buffer and seen by most as a generous and genuine supporter of sport in Japan. Osaka has also complained of suffering from depression, which is a bit of a taboo in a country where you are expected to gaman (endure). The general feeling here is that she should just focus on her tennis and keep her views and personal issues to herself.
At 28, Osaka really ought to know how to behave on court
Which might be a little harsh – though only a little. The spat on Tuesday was minor and Osaka has sort of apologised. Nor is it perhaps fair to criticise or shun her for not being ‘Japanese’ enough. She did not choose her upbringing. She was never immersed in the intricacies of Japanese manners. Is she supposed to start learning kanji or the various gradations of respectful bowing now? She is who she is, apparently a rather complicated, contradictory individual, a mix of off-court shyness and on-court ostentation, which now and again crosses the baseline of acceptability.
She may even be prey to tennis’s pressing need for a villain narrative to spice up what can be a rather predictable sport between players who are often similar in style and demeanour. Osaka at least has a personality and seems to have an instinct to rebel in one way or another, sartorially or in her on- and off-court behaviour. A little of that is probably healthy, as long as it does not compromise fair play.
But only a little.
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