The spacious mental health debate has long sparked social pushes to prioritize mental health in many areas of society. Millennials will rightfully take credit for pushing it to the forefront in the U.S, and Gen Z has spoken up immensely, but how have the athletes who have strived hard for competitive achievements been lost in this discussion to the fanatic sport fans’ need for the spectacle?
“Huge Weight of Anxiety”
May 26th, 2025, Memorial Day for most, but the French Open is also happening at this time, and what may not have made news if the outcome went the other way ended up being just a small but definite look into the Melancholy Millennial that has become the dominant figure in sports. Naomi Osaka,27, from Japan, is poised to run the gauntlet of opponents in the French Open and be in place for another historic championship run, as she has become known for. Osaka currently rests as the top women’s player in tennis according to the WTA for over 20 weeks straight. Yet the 10th seed, Paula Badosa, ends up winning the ladder two matches of the first round of the tournament against Osaka and beats out the top contender for the title. After the match Osaka states “As time goes on, I feel like I should be doing better. But also — I kind of talked about this before, maybe a couple years ago, or maybe recently, I’m not sure — I hate disappointing people,” as she takes a few moments to gather herself as tears begin to flow. Rare but nuanced vulnerability from a top athlete is a trend millennials may just cement in history when we speak about athletes. Yet does this added statistic that is placed on the athletes truly empower or dismantle them? Osaka stated as early as 2021 that these “Huge waves of anxiety” come heavy before media outings and have a huge effect on her mental health due to the now-volatile nature of sports and social media. Will we listen as the cries get louder?
Naomi Osaka isn’t the first top athlete to tackle these tolls on mental health. Simone Biles withdrew from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to her concerns about how her mental health was affecting her during practices and how that may transition into her performance with her team. During her exit from the Olympics, she said, “Today has been stressful. We had to work out this morning, and it went okay. And then just that five-and-a-half-hour wait or something, I was just, like, shaking [and] could barely nap. I just never felt like this at this point in a competition before,” Biles continued. “And I tried to go out here and have fun and warm up in the back, feel a little bit better. But then once I came out, I was like, ‘No, mental is not there.’ So I just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself,” when reporters asked what prompted her immediate exit. A rare instance as many of the mental health woes of Olympic athletes often go unheard and if heard, many years after thier experiences. Is the anxiety weighing now more than ever for these athletes?
Since before the age of 18, LeBron James has been under the public eye that many would have folded under. He surely wasn’t the first out of high school basketball star that had to endure challenges, but he may have had the most eyes on him only due to the growing nature of the way media was moving at the time. Yet he boldly stated that for a good period of time, “I felt like the game was becoming too much of a job,” and he even later admitted how much mental health disparities and challenges fellow NBA players are currently going through. Jordan or Kobe looked at grievances from teammates as weaknesses, but LeBron ushered in an attitude of consideration toward emotions seen as trivial before. Has this nuanced leadership from the top player in the NBA painted a better picture of just how…melancholy today’s athlete is?
If that may not be enough evidence of top athletes speaking out for thier somber sadness that seems to come with national recognition from playing the sport you love. Athletes are using psychiatric medication to address thier mental health concerns, and in today’s millennial-run landscape, that is not out of the norm. Beforehand, using psychiatric medication would be seen as expelling an athlete as unstable and dooming them to a life of “riding the bench” as they would be deemed “crazy”. Yet Noah Lyles, who recently won Gold and established his dominance as the world’s fastest man in the 100-meter sprint in the 2024 Paris Olympics, openly takes psychiatric medication for his mental disorders. Lyles took to his social media back in 2020, stating, “Recently, I decided to get on antidepressant medication. That was one of the best decisions I have made in a while,” he said. “Since then I have been able to think [without] the dark undertone in mind of nothing matters. Thank you, God, for mental Health.” The days of this being taboo from a top athlete are seemingly over. Yet does todays athlete tell a bigger picture than we fans can see ? and does the average sports fan care?
Athletes Have Feelings?
We often see the physical damage and sometimes the emotional toll that playing a professional sport can bring upon a person. Yet it’s not often we see the longer-term mental effect that it has on these athletes. Often subjected to the sound of the buzzer is our feelings for the athlete. Once the game ends, the season is over, or a top athlete retires, also goes lot of society begins to dissociate and opt for whoever is newer or still valuable. Yet an article from Springer Nature found results stating “The findings suggested that elite athletes experience a broadly comparable risk of high-prevalence mental disorders (i.e., anxiety, depression) relative to the general population.” In 2018, the UK conducted a study on thier top athletes and found that “The percentage of a sample of elite athletes in the UK showing signs of anxiety/depression and distress indicates that further cross-sectional research is required to understand the prevalence of mental health issues in the elite athlete population in the UK. Findings indicate that screening elite athletes for career dissatisfaction may support the early detection of signs of anxiety/depression and/or distress.” Even 7 years ago, before Naomi stated that her mental health was affected, evidence had been around that has suggested many of our top athletes are struggling on a level many consumers of sports do not understand.
The real effect is often not talked about amongst us fans of the sports. Athletes’ plights as humans are often lost because we see them as a utility way to often. Anyone who has played sports can speak to the ever-growing sentiment that if you’re doing good, the fans love you, and if you’re not, the fans are figuratively throwing tomatoes at you. Yet the fan culture often was never questioned as possibly burdensome to the athletes, mainly because the average fan justifies the athlete’s salary as a reason to “suck up” any ridicule that does come their way. With player contracts ranging in the hundreds of millions for multiple years and the average American making about 35,000 dollars a year…..fans feel they have merit. Yet has this attitude of avoidance toward athlete issues been umbrellaed into a larger trend of dehumanizing individuals in lieu of profit?
Profit over People?
Has the demeanor of the average fan toward top athletes’ concerns been echoed across the hallways and chambers of professional sports? For too long, the fan has always been highly critical of the athlete, but with sports media constantly needing to attract new viewers and audiences, it has been apparent that sports media has reached into the dark end of treatment toward players. “shut up and dribble” as Laura Ingraham put it started a enraged debate around hearing about political issues from athlete’s. It stemmed from Lebron James speaking politically at the time about certain issues and injustices pertaining to African Americans in the United States. There was once a time when the media gave respect to the athletes and actually promoted the fairness in sharing views from different athletes, but as monetary gain and influence have taken over professional sports, it seems harder than ever to hear athletes express issues that affect the communities they are from. Often when they do it means giving up career in many senses, Just ask Colin Kaepernick.
Another Millennial, Colin Kaepernick, is a free agent in the National Football League and an activist today, but back in September of 2016, Colin Kaepernick was no doubt one of the top quarterbacks in the league and was leading the San Francisco 49ers to multiple NFC championships and almost a Super Bowl win in 2013. Yet on September 1st, 2016, Colin Kaepernick decided to stand up for some of the injustices he saw around the unfairly disproportionate killings of unarmed African American citizens at the hands of police officers. During the national anthem of one of the opening games of the season, Colin Kaepernick took a knee to display his hurt and activism toward what was happening in America. Kaepernick stated, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color.” America, the place built on revolution and rebellion against unjust representation, should surely be the understanding atmosphere where this display of protest should be allowed, right? Wrong. Kaepernick was met with some of the harshest ridicule and treatment by teams and teammates. Kaepernick was effectively done playing after being benched for a few seasons by the 49ers and trying to work out for a few other teams, but ultimately, he has now been a permanent free agent, still looking for a chance to prove he can still play. What does this have to do with athletes’ mental health? It begs the larger point that the issues athletes care about, which are the worries of thier community, are being ignored by not just fans anymore but the media and teams that are around them. Where is the athlete to turn?
If the actions of the Millennial have shown us what mental health is for our athletes and how it ultimately looks now, then the answer will surely come from them or the next generation of athletes in Generation Z, who have also been ushering in new waves and attitudes of mental health and issues that affect them. Representation matters. It matters so much that with the new NIL agreement that has been placed into college campuses around the world, it has already seen the effects of brands and teams needing to prioritize mental health. According to MarketPryce, “More than 63% of MarketPryce student-athletes prefer name, image, and likeness (NIL) partnerships with companies that prioritize mental health. This comes as no surprise, as both women (44%) and men (17%) reported during the 2022-23 academic year that they felt overwhelmed by their responsibilities as student-athletes. ” Even big leagues have tried to appease the melancholy athlete by adding mental health services in facilities. “For example, major sports organizations like the NBA and NFL have launched mental health programs aimed at providing their athletes with ongoing support. These programs often include confidential counseling services, mental health hotlines, and educational sessions that emphasize the importance of mental wellness. College sports programs are also increasingly focusing on mental health, integrating it into their athletic training regimens and ensuring that student-athletes have access to necessary resources.”
Gen Z and Millennials have broken the stigma on mental health with athletes, but the media and popular society have so far rejected these pleas. Organizations have tried to address the concerns of top athletes and the changing landscape around prioritizing mental health just as much as physical health. Yet with dollars being thier main indicator of success outside of championships, mental health just doesn’t make organizations and leagues money. With the growing idea of keeping politics outside of sports, the worries of athletes from these communities that are affected politically are disheartening for the athlete coming into today’s landscape. Are we creating a more fruitful landscape for our future athletes, who are still our children, to be able to be themselves, or are we chasing an idealistic image of the gladiator from the past whose sole purpose was the entertainment of the masses? Time will tell.
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