Ben Rothenberg: The challenge for players in tennis is that they often don't have a very normal social background honestly
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Ben, Your book about Naomi Osaka will premiere on 9 January 2024. How long did you work on this book and what it gave you the most joy while writing?
I first got the idea to write the book during the day that Naomi stopped to
play in New York in 2020, during the Cincinnati tournament before the US Open
that year. I thought she really could be a very interesting person to center a
book around. I was just realizing how little I knew about her life, really,
considering what a big star she was. She really hadn't had a lot of details of
her life told. After that she won that US Open wearing masks and
everything, it was a further confirmation that I wanted to do it. And
then I actually started working on it fully, in probably fall of 2021, so
about a year later, so it took a bit of time and then I got publisher and the
time to do the book. The book was originally going to come out in August of
2023, but obviously she missed this whole season, so we decided to push it to
January, which seems like it's working out well with her comeback timing . The
most joyful part of the project honestly was just getting to dive very deep
into a story. So much of what I've done being a daily newspaper writer was
doing a different thing every day a lot of time; and to be able to spend a lot
of time with one project in a really full, deep exploration of it was very
satisfying.
I'm guessing that during writing "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice" you had the opportunity to get to know the Japanese tennis player much better. To be honest, even though it she is very popular, it is still a very interesting and ‘mysterious” woman. Can you please write what surprised you most positively about Naomi?
I think one of the things that made me most surprised about Naomi was how much she was and is still motivated by her family and trying to make things better for them, and the amount of sacrifice she saw from her parents, who really made their better lives very desperate at times, because of their decision to pursue this tennis dream so relentlessly. That was something that was difficult for the family for sure, and that put a lot of pressure on Naomi I think, to make all that sacrifice worthwhile. It was a very big motivation for her early career, and then actually when she started making more money and that desperation became less clear, it was actually kind of difficult for her to readjust her motivation at times.
I admit that sports-related issues such as pressure in sports and PR aspects are very interesting to me. What do you think are the challenges for young tennis players when they become famous and there is a lot of talk about them everywhere? How to make sure you feel good under great pressure?
The challenge for players in tennis is that they often don't have a very normal social background honestly. Most tennis players don’t go to normal schools, most tennis players don't have a lot of friends growing up, and a lot of attention outside their family and coaches. And then suddenly the whole world is talking about you and knows about you, and that's a big thing to adjust to a lot of times. For really big stars, getting more sponsors and more attention from the media can also amplify pressure, in a way that I don't think players always recognize how much those sorts of fame can really increase pressure.
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Ben Rothenberg's book "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice" will be available on foreign websites from January 9, and will soon appear in Polish bookstores!
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Many of your publications are very popular around the world. These are not only books but also podcasts or articles like about Shuai Peng, Dylan Alcott and many, many others. Which of the stories you worked on was the most memorable for you and why?
I have a bunch of stories I'm proud of for sure. There's a few different
longer stories,
I have done for “Racquet Magazine”, when I was writing for them about
Monique Viele who was the player in the 90s, who was very overhyped in
tennis and was represented by Donald Trump as her manager; it's a very
unique, interesting story. Then obviously a few stories on abuse allegations
against Alexander Zverev which have been very meaningful to me.
There’s a lot more I would need more time to think of, but from what you
mentioned Dylan Alcott for sure is definitely a cool one and spending time
with him couple times in Australia has been very cool.
Let's focus on the current WTA. How will you comment on the last season? What surprised you the most about it?
I think it was okay, I think it was up and down, I think that it had a lot of high moments and some low moments, just clearly on court too. I think it started having this rivalry developed between Iga Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka at the top, and that's very positive for tennis. Just on court these two players, both with more than 9 000 ranking points, it shows that level is good at the very top at least, and then the rest of the top 10 I'm a little bit less convinced by it right now. There are some strong tournaments in terms of results and the best players being at their best at the big moments. I think the Australian Open final was the big example of that. Then there were also some moments like Wimbledon, I think Vondroušová won and played well for sure, but it wasn't like a spectacular level from that tournament in the last couple rounds. So it's mixed. I'm hoping that this mix of the stars can be joined by some of these players coming back like Naomi and make it a really interesting 2024 season.
The 2024 season may be very interesting. Big comebacks to the tour, Olympics or more tournaments of WTA 1000 and much more. What is the biggest issue for Ben Rothenberg in 2024?
I think it's just the WTA finding good business footing. I think honestly in
2024 in terms of finding a steady place for their finals which has been a big
issue for them and obviously still is, it’s all related to tournaments in
China and Far Asia. China and the whole China deal falling apart because the
pandemic and because of Peng Shuai and because of the Chinese economy and
things like that. That's a big issue for them for sure. So hoping that the new
leadership does that. Also what happens with Saudi Arabia I think it's a big
issue for women's tennis, it's a pretty existential issue for the tour. The
question is again wondering if it’s worth taking the money to go somewhere
that it's just not culturally a normal fit for women's tennis at all.
What do you think is the main reason why Iga Świątek has been number 1 in the world since over 80 weeks?
I think she’s amazingly good. I think she's so good. I think she's the one player on this tour right now honestly who would be great player in any generation. I don't think it's the deepest, strongest generation at the very top right now; I don't think the top 10 is as strong as it's been in some past generations, honestly, but Iga is the one player with her athleticism and her speed and her talent, and her game is very disruptive. I think she could hack it any time and I think she's a very special player and I think that she's been very consistent and I think she's got a really good team around her with Tomasz Wiktorowski and Daria Abramowicz and her physio Maciej Ryszczuk and yeah I think it's a really really solid group and she's doing well you know off court as well so definitely a lot to like about Iga and she can keep it going.
Tennis has changed over the years. What three elements in the game do you think are currently the most important to great success?
I think you really have to be a good mover these days. I think that having
stability in your team, and coaching is very important and, you see how that
works sometimes you don't have that, it really does limit a player's potential
if there's a player with a lot of coaching changes. The other thing I will say
is just being able to be resilient. In tennis there are many disappointments,
losing almost every week, and you'll be able to bounce back from that and not
let it affect you too profoundly or emotionally, which is not easy.
Which older tennis player who has already retired in your opinion currently would be even better now due to her playing style?
I think that I would love to see someone like Justine Henin, such a great player. I would love to see what she would do against this current generation, seeing a one-handed backhand to the mix would be very cool. She just did everything well, and was small, and I’d love to see her matchup against Iga Świątek would be very cool to see or Aryna Sabalenka even, she obviously was one of the best at beating big power players like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova their best
What do you think the WTA top3 - top5 will look like in the coming seasons? Which players have the potential to have the most success in the next 5 years?
I think Iga will be in there. I think Iga has shown no signs of slowing down and can keep it up. I think in terms of top 5 next few years I think Naomi can get back there and I really do I think if she's if she's motivated and healthy her game and her talent is there especially on hard court she can be the best on the hard court again. Who else do I think is potentially there? Maybe Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina, , I think are very talented players and maybe Qinwen Zheng for sure. I didn’t take Aryna Sabalenka, I think Sabalenka is very hot and cold still a lot of times so I don't know if she’s safest bet all the time but her highs are obviously very high. She had very very good year.
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Thank you for the conversation and the sports season, as well as the success of the book and the energy to write more!
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