Naomi Osaka tells Megyn Kelly to ‘do better’ after criticism over tennis pro’s recent magazine covers

Athlete says journalist’s first reaction is to ‘spew negativity’

Naomi Osaka tells Megyn Kelly to ‘do better’ after journalist criticises her over media appearances (Getty)

Naomi Osaka has encouraged Megyn Kelly to “do better” after the journalist criticised the tennis star for appearing on magazine covers despite choosing not to participate in interviews at the French Open.

In June, Osaka withdrew from the French Open after she was fined by the tennis tournament for not participating in interviews, a decision the tennis pro said had been made with her mental health in mind.

Since then, the 23-year-old has launched a reality show and has appeared on multiple magazine covers, including Vogue and, most recently, Sports Illustrated, prompting Kelly to tweet about the athlete’s media appearances, resulting in a tense exchange between the pair.

The conversation began on Monday, after conservative commentator Clay Travis tweeted: “Since saying she’s too introverted to talk to the media after tennis matches, Naomi Osaka has launched a reality show, a Barbie, and now is on the cover of the SI swimsuit issue,” with Kelly retweeting the statement and adding: “Let’s not forget the cover of (& interview in) Vogue Japan and Time Mag!”

In response to Kelly, Osaka replied in a since-deleted tweet telling the journalist to “do better,” after revealing that the magazine covers were shot before she spoke publicly about her mental health struggles.

“Seeing as you’re a journalist I would’ve assumed you would take the time to research what the lead times are for magazines,” Osaka wrote, according to a screenshot captured by Sporting News. “If you did that you would’ve found out that I shot all of my covers last year.

“Instead your first reaction is to hop on here and spew negativity, do better Megan [sp].”

The tennis pro’s response prompted another response from Kelly, who accused Osaka of only being tough “on the courts,” while revealing with a screenshot that Osaka had blocked her on Twitter.

“Poor @naomiosaka blocked me while taking a shot at me (guess she’s only tough on the courts). She is apparently arguing that she shot her many covers b/4 publicly claiming she was too socially anxious to deal w/press,” Kelly wrote, before alleging that Osaka “just doesn’t like questions she can’t control”.

The exchange also encouraged Piers Morgan to weigh in, with the TV presenter siding with Kelly when he tweeted: “The only media Ms Osaka wants to tolerate are sycophantic magazine editors telling her how perfect she is.”

In the same tweet, Morgan also revealed that he had been blocked by the four-time Grand Slam singles champion on Twitter.

Criticism from the conservative media personalities over Osaka’s recent media appearances come after she revealed in an essay published in Time on 8 July that she has learned that you can’t please everyone, and that everyone suffers from “issues related to their mental health or knows someone who does”.

“The number of messages I received from such a vast cross section of people confirms that. I think we can almost universally agree that each of us is a human being and subject to feelings and emotions,” she wrote, later adding: “Perhaps we should give athletes the right to take a mental break from media scrutiny on a rare occasion without being subject to strict sanctions.”

While Osaka has received some backlash over her dedication to her mental health, numerous others have publicly expressed their support for her choice, including Will Smith, Venus Williams, and Michael Phelps.