Caitlin Bassett of Australia speaks to the media during the Netball Quad Series Captain's Call at Kangaroo Cliffs Point Lookout on August 25, 2017. Photo / Getty Images.
Caitlin Bassett of Australia speaks to the media during the Netball Quad Series Captain's Call at Kangaroo Cliffs Point Lookout on August 25, 2017. Photo / Getty Images.
In the first of a regular series of columns, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic star and former Australia netball captain Caitlin Bassett analyses the reality of the relationship between female athletes and the media.
When I first heard the news that Naomi Osaka had decided to boycott post-match interviews atRoland Garris, I laughed. Is she crazy? The idea that a young female athlete would stand up to challenge the rules and put her mental health first seemed bizarre to me. Did she miss the memo about media being part of an athlete's job?
It was made very clear to me when I reached elite level netball that we needed the media. How else were we supposed to attract more sponsors and grow our sport?
Photoshoot at the beach in our bathers? Sure! Interview and filming at our house? Why not! It was always an expectation that there was no refusing a media request.
Head Coach Lisa Alexander of Australia, captain Caitlin Bassett of Australia and captain Laura Langman of NZ prepare Pavlovas during the Constellation Cup captain's call in 2019. Photo / Getty.
Win, lose or draw after a game you limp down to the media room for the post-match press conference where you paste a smile on your face and try to remember how to correctly pronounce your opposition player's name.
The hardest interviews are without a doubt after a loss when you are still trying to catch your breath and compute what happened.
I remember vividly talking to the media after our Commonwealth Games final in 2018. We had just lost by a goal to England and two minutes after stepping off court I had a microphone thrust at me asking what went wrong.
I was torn between saying something humble about losing and bursting into hysterical tears. I can tell you right now I was not in a good emotional state to be saying anything that was going to be broadcast to the world.
Doing post-match media is one of the last things you want to do after finishing a game and is often met with a chorus of 'shot gun not!' when the team media manager comes looking for a player in the changing room.
In a team sport such as netball I am lucky there are others to share the load with, but as an individual, 23-year-old Osaka has to shoulder it all on her own.
Although sitting in a sweaty netball dress in front of a room of people answering questions isn't overly pleasant, I would still choose to do it rather than pull out of a tournament to avoid it.
Caitlin Bassett of the Magic competes for the ball against Taneisha Fifita of the Steel during the round eight ANZ Premiership match against the Southern Steel. Photo / Getty Images.
Which begs the question, how bad is it in tennis that one of the world's best players would rather quit than do a post-match press conference?
In tennis, it's a well-known fact that press conferences are boring and tedious for both players and journalists involved.
In the room there can be a mix of seasoned tennis journalists as well as local reporters.
Questions can range from insightful to mundane with the same questions being asked over and over again.
Imagine sitting at a table by yourself while a room of strange men, all older than you, peppering you with questions trying to invoke a great grab or emotional response.
Now imagine you have just played a three-hour match and since you lost you have to head straight to the airport for a 14-hour flight home. To top it off you struggle with anxiety and depression.
While some athletes deliver great post match performances others only answer with one or two words. Why then do they continue when little is gleaned from them? Because it's a rule?
I understand it's a slippery slope, change a rule for one player and then suddenly no player will do post match media, but surely if a player is taking great personal risk to share her discomfort there are others that feel the same way.
Caitlin Bassett of Australia speaks to the media during the Netball Quad Series Captain's Call at Kangaroo Cliffs Point Lookout on August 25, 2017. Photo / Getty Images.
As we see more young tennis stars appearing at grand slams while still in their teens, the Naomi Osaka incident is something that needs to be addressed quickly with Wimbledon only a few weeks away.
Old rules need to be rewritten to support the challenges and pressure modern athletes face.
Venus Williams perfectly sums up my feelings and the mentality that athletes should have when dealing with the media: "I know every single person asking me a question can't play as well as I can, and never will," she said.
