When Naomi Osaka walked away from a post-match handshake at the Australian Open on Thursday, the moment was visibly tense. What happened between her and her opponent, Romanian player Sorana Cîrstea? Was it someone’s attitude? Was it poor sportsmanship? Was it even necessary?
What didn’t seem to get nearly as much attention: Osaka, 28, was intensely competing in one of the biggest tennis matches in the world. And she wasn’t backing down. It worked for her because it’s the first time Osaka had reached the third round at the Australian Open since 2022. She’s back on the court Saturday against Maddison Inglis.
In a post-match interview, the moment got even more icy. When asked what it took to win, Osaka was unmoved and unapologetic.
“Apparently a lot of ‘come ons’ that she was angry about,” she said, in reference to how she was hyping herself up before serves. “She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open. Sorry she was mad about it.”
Naomi Osaka on the icy handshake with Sorana Cirstea at the Australian Open
“What did it take to get through that one?”
Naomi: “Apparently a lot of come ons that she was angry about. Whatever. She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open. Sorry she was mad… pic.twitter.com/uCODMBfnKD— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 22, 2026
The crowd gasped. It cheered. It even booed. The discomfort that followed said more about how society responds to competitive women than about what’s deemed proper tennis etiquette. In high-stakes environments, women are expected to compete and succeed, but only within narrow emotional boundaries.
“When women show up in competition the same way men do, people don’t know where to put it,” said Chelsea Brown, founder of The Black Mill Consulting, who works with executives navigating power dynamics at work. “Instead of focusing on performance, the attention shifts to tone, demeanor, or perceived attitude.”
Brown pointed out that instead of focusing on Osaka’s performance, the conversation fixated on a gesture and her tone that can’t be measured or quantified.
“It’s petty,” she added, “and it’s telling. If this were a man in a sport where aggression is celebrated the reaction would be completely different.”
Women’s ambition is also judged differently at work, too
The double standard certainly isn’t confined to sports. In corporate America, the same dynamics play out daily.
Men are often praised for being decisive and commanding; women who exhibit these traits can be labeled difficult, emotional, or abrasive. The result? Women are scrutinized, not just for outcomes, but for how comfortable they make others feel along the way.
“There are still deeply embedded sexist practices in corporate culture,” Brown said. “You see it in pay gaps, promotions, hiring decisions, and in the way women’s intensity is constantly questioned or explained away.”
The pressure to soften is often framed as leadership coaching or — my favorite — the spirit of collaboration. But Brown warned that dialing down ambition or authority comes at a cost. “When women make themselves smaller or palatable, it limits how their power is perceived and how seriously their leadership is taken.”
Osaka’s moment resonated precisely because it refused that trade-off. Her response wasn’t performative. It was human.
And perhaps that’s the real tension: We are still adjusting to a world where women on the court and in the boardroom no longer feel obligated to cushion their excellence.
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