Naomi Osaka's decision to withdraw from the French Open, after revealing her battle with depression and anxiety, has cast a harsh light on the mental health of the sport's superstars with one expert even accusing the media of "voyeurism". The 23-year-old world number two, and four-time major winner, said she will now take a break from tennis, putting her participation at Wimbledon and her home Olympics at risk. The four Grand Slams said they will look at changes to their tournaments in the light of the crisis. "We intend to work alongside the players, the tours, the media and the broader tennis community to create meaningful improvements," a statement by the French, US and Australian Opens and Wimbledon said. Osaka was fined USD 15,000 and threatened with disqualification from Roland Garros after she refused to honour mandatory media commitments. 

She claims they are detrimental to her mental health and likened the traditional post-match news conference to "kicking people when they're down". "There's a sense of voyeurism around how it presently works," wrote Peter Terry, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia on theconversation.com, on Tuesday. "Perhaps some want to see athletes crumble and break down into tears, having put them on a pedestal. "Osaka is a young, introverted, anxious person. We should by now understand that sports stars are not super human, that they have the same doubts and mental health issues as everyone else." Terry worked with the WTA for over a decade and sat on a commission which drew up guidelines to help players avoid burn-out and deal with pressure when in their mid-teens. One of the outcomes was ruling how many tournaments a player could enter before a certain age. Osaka said her mental health struggles began in 2018 when she won the first of her four majors at the US Open in a controversial final against Serena Williams. She was just 20, stood awkwardly courtside, covering her face with her visor.