It's Time We Paid Attention To Athletes’ Mental Health.

Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from Roland Garros and Dominic Thiems alleged troubles with depression

highlight athletes’ struggles with mental well being in the post pandemic world

08/05/2021

Ravin Batra

Two days before the second Grand Slam on the tennis calendar, four time Grand Slam champion and the highest paid female athlete of 2020- Naomi Osaka took to social media to announce that she wouldn't be participating in any media commitments over the Roland Garros fortnight. Stating that “people have no regard for athletes’ mental health” and that the whole idea of post-loss press conferences are like “kicking a person while they're down”- her decision led to much debate among the who's who of global sport. Whilst many came out in support, others were there to point out how press conferences and other media commitments are part of the job and a significant reason behind the building of athletes’ personas.

Grand slam regulations state that any player who refrains from talking to the press shall be fined and multiple offences may lead to disqualification from the tournament. Osaka went on to win her first match of the tournament, boycotting all press and copping more criticism as she went by. 24 hours before her second match, she withdrew from the tournament with a second, more in depth explanation of how bouts with depression post her controversy filled 2018 US Open final with Serena Williams and long term social anxiety meant that speaking to the media was an additional toll on what was already a vulnerable state of mind she had headed into Paris.

Mental strength when mentioned in the same breath as athletes often refers to the ability to fight adversity in the context of a match or a tournament. How well do they handle the big moments, how do they stand up to the best of the best and how do they push themselves to keep going through injuries and dips in form. Mental strength in the context of an athlete's life is often neglected. The idea that athletes are “living the dream” and therefore have nothing to be down or sad about is one that is often floated around, however, the road to becoming and sustaining a level as a top level athlete is long, hard and draining.

Often forced to leave home at a young age to go and train at national centres, athletes are subject to long periods of time away from family and have to give up on the idea of making friends through school and other extracurricular activities. Friends on site are often competitors as well and as athletes progress up the rankings, they start to face media scrutiny and expectations. When not surrounded by a solid group of family and friends, or not in a state of mind to express oneself in all facets on the world's stage- being an athlete can actually be quite lonely and quite draining.

Playing for the love of the game is what got them there, but when other non-playing aspects of the game start to cloud their judgement and thought process- you know there is something wrong.

As sport resumed post the covid-19 pandemic, athletes across all kinds of sport have been subject to bubble life- wherein they are restricted to their hotel rooms and the playing venue. Some bubbles are stricter whilst others are more flexible, however even in the best case scenario- competitors and their entourage of 4-5 (limited due to the bubble) are subject to a few days of hard quarantine and then restricted movements for the entirety of the tournament. Most tournaments are also conducted with minimal fans and sometimes no fans at all. This has proven to further dampen the spirits of players who are oftentimes spurred on by roaring crowds and waves of encouragement. Even though these athletes are provided with some of the best facilities cities have to offer, being locked up away from home- forced to bring the best out of themselves in competition with no one watching (physically) is extremely draining.

Rising tennis star Dominic Thiem won his first grand slam in the US Open bubble last year. The young Austrian who had been knocking on the door of success for a long time before the pandemic, seemed to have cracked the code- until he cracked. 2021 for Thiem started with a fourth round loss in Melbourne at the Australian open. Travelling halfway across the world, staying in a bubble and coming home early clearly took a toll on the talented youngster- who subsequently lost his first round match in Doha a month later, withdrew from a tournament in Miami in March and reached a quarter final as his best performance on what is usually an extremely strong European clay season for him. Former world number one and current pundit- Matts Willander claimed that Thiem has reached “sporting death” where the outcome of the match doesn’t matter any more to him and he is simply there to make up the numbers. Thiem refuted these claims of depression but stated that everyone “has a limit when it comes to life in the bubble”.

Mental wellbeing has always been an area of concern for athletes who are faced with life changing events at a very young age. Competing in bubbles has pointed out, if not made it crystal clear that athletes too have a mental capacity when it comes to life. And while it is their job and passion to come in day in and day out and play their sport at the highest level- there are certain factors that affect their ability to do so. Mainstream media and fans in general need to recognise this and start to cut athletes some slack when it comes to criticizing poor performance or lack of motivation. We are living through extraordinary times, and while many of the athletes out there have extraordinary abilities- at the end of the day they are still only human and it's time we started to recognise that.