Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas is giving her support to Naomi Osaka after she decided to withdraw from the 2021 French Open to protect her mental health.
Recalling her own experience, in an interview with USA Today about superstar athletes addressing their own mental health needs, she said that the 2016 Olympic Games "really did a number on me.”
"Coming from that [I focused on] really healing myself, healing my mind and my body," Douglas said. "I'm not on social media a lot because social media did damage to my personality, in a way. So [I've] just been taking years off of social media, off my phone, and really just kind of getting back to who I am."
“Every person knows what they need to fix themselves, to heal themselves, and everyone’s different,” she continued. “For me, I know being an athlete, you go through so much already. If you need to step back, that’s what you need to do”
As Blavity previously reported, Osaka sent shockwaves through the tennis world and beyond when she withdrew from the 2021 French Open citing mental health concerns.
Before her withdrawal, Osaka was levied with a $15,000 fine for skipping "mandatory media interviews" and was even threatened with expulsion from the tournament and future Grand Slams if she continued to miss required time with the media.
Because of her bold stance, support of Osaka poured in from tennis legends Venus Williams, Serena Williams, the legendary Will Smith and the Calm app designed to help subscribers with meditation. The app pledged to match the cost of her fines as well as paying the fines of any player who opts out of required media obligations for mental health reasons during the 2021 Grand Slam season.
Osaka’s decision to leave the French Open tournament, as one of the stars of women’s tennis, has impacted the public discourse around mental health and self-care. The way Black athletes are treated in their respective sports by the media and fans who attack them has been a major tipping point recently.
"I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes' mental health, and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one," she wrote on Instagram.
"We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds, and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me,” she remarked.
If anyone understands Osaka's plight, it would be Douglas who came of age on the world's stage as a gymnast who's dealt with the highs and lows that come with success. In 2017, she broke her silence by acknowledging that she was a victim of abuse.
