The tennis player Naomi Osaka opened up this week about how she feels physically since having her daughter. Both athletes and non-athletes will have nodded in recognition
. A year after her daughter was born, the Grand Slam champion, who returned to the competitive circuit in January, is struggling to find her form. “I try and tell myself ‘it’s fine you’re doing great’ ... Internally I hear myself screaming ‘what the hell is happening?!?!’”
That is awful, but how fantastic that she is talking about how she feels. Traditionally, vulnerability is not welcome in elite sport, an environment of “stigma surrounding mental health issues, a high threshold for help-seeking behavior, and a low sense of psychological safety”,last year. Yet so much of elite athletes’ success is in their heads; of course they falter, habitually exposed to pressure that would crush us normal people .
It’s not grim or alarmist to say you might not be the same. That doesn’t necessarily mean worse: you might be stronger, better, more resilient. Physiologically and psychologically, though, things are different. As Brett put it: “What was left ofin this ‘new mother’ body?” That is more of a struggle for some than others, whether they are elite athletes or have never attempted a parkrun. It helps to hear women say it’s hard and add some nuance to the “you got this, mama” narrative.
Osaka says she is giving herself “grace”; she is giving everyone who has felt that struggle grace, too. That is what makes her post – and her – so brilliant.
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