Ed Coughlan: The stars surely deserve better treatment - without them, there is no show

Naomi Osaka, a phenomenal competitor on the court, revealed a fragility to that side to her last week by stating how she is wracked with self-doubt and inner demons about her performance, this from someone who has sat atop of the world rankings. This dichotomy of parts is not uncommon in sport, especially at the elite level.

Naomi Osaka, a phenomenal competitor on the court, revealed a fragility to that side to her last week by stating how she is wracked with self-doubt and inner demons about her performance, this from someone who has sat atop of the world rankings. This dichotomy of parts is not uncommon in sport, especially at the elite level.

It takes something significant for sports stories to feature on the main news, which is exactly what happened this week with the withdrawal of Naomi Osaka from the French Open at Roland Garros.

It also probably saved us all from even more scrutiny about how both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Pep Guardiola cost the city of Manchester European silverware this season. Albeit, for very different reasons, Solskjaer was exposed once again for being out of his depth and Guardiola can only be accused of trying to be too clever.