French Open: Jessica Pegula column on Aryna Sabalenka and players skipping news conferences

American Jessica Pegula, who is third in the singles world rankings and second in the doubles, is the latest leading WTA Tour player to feature in a BBC Sport column.

In her latest piece at the French Open, Pegula discusses players not attending open news conferences after Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka decided to skip another one.

A hot topic again at this year's French Open has been players not speaking to the media after matches to protect their mental health.

On Sunday night, Aryna Sabalenka pulled out of doing a post-match open news conference for the second round running after saying she did not feel safe in a previous one.

Two years ago there was a similar issue when Naomi Osaka did not want to speak to the media to protect her mental health.

I guess the French Open are now being more empathetic about players' mental health needs surrounding press conferences.

What Naomi did alerted people to the possibility of doing what Sabalenka did and for the tournament to work ways around it.

Sabalenka still found a way to do press, giving quotes to the Women's Tennis Association, which were then distributed to other reporters.

She has been hammered with questions about the war in Ukraine and Belarus' support of Russia.

She clearly felt enough was enough. I think that's her right.

It's the right of the press to ask the questions they want to ask, but also it is her right not to answer them if she doesn't want to answer them.

After I had a really tough loss in the singles on Friday, I was not really in the mood to speak to the media.

Luckily there was only one person who asked for a couple of quotes so I gave them to the WTA anyway without having to do an open news conference.

I think the tournament is now more flexible because of what happened with Naomi. That's a good thing.

Of course, speaking to the media is important for growing the sport and connecting with fans. We wouldn't want to lose that.

But it has to be the right balance and the player has to feel safe.

It's been a long trip here in Europe and, as I described in my previous column, it has not been the easiest.

But, since losing to Elise Mertens in the singles third round, it has been nice to get a couple of wins in the doubles alongside my regular partner Coco Gauff.

That's helped me snap out of the little bit of a lull. It always feels nice to get some redemption.

I think getting back on the court as quickly as possibly is the best thing to do, sometimes you can get down and stuck in a negative attitude - at least for me.

It is nice to get back out there and compete, to switch your mind back into competitive mode.

Coco said in Melbourne that playing in the doubles with me would help pick up her spirits after she lost in the Australian Open singles - it has been kind of a role reversal here.

She helped me in our win over Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia, which was the day after I lost in the singles, and she played really well.

I think I struggled a little bit in the first set, but she got me going. Although being able to lift each other depends how we're playing!

Generally, I'd say we are good at picking each other up.

While I've got a high ranking in both singles and doubles, like most people, I definitely prioritise the singles, for sure.

Doubles is something fun and something I can win at and still be good at. But I wouldn't say I prioritise doubles.

I definitely still want to succeed in it and we work on a couple of things, doubles specific, before a match.

Winning a doubles title or reaching a doubles final does soften the blow of an early singles exit a little bit.

It is good to win wherever you go and whatever match you're playing in.

Winning a Grand Slam doubles title is definitely a huge goal for us and something we really want. We also use it as a way to get better in the singles.

Making the final here at Roland Garros last year was great experience for us and we're determined to go one step further this year.

Jessica Pegula was talking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko at Roland Garros.