Naomi Osaka was reduced to tears after being heckled during her match to Veronika Kudermetova at the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells. The Japanese player, who missed parts of the 2021 season because of mental health issues, was jeered in the early part of the match.
A spectator reportedly shouted “Naomi, you suck.”
After hearing the ‘You suck’ from a fan, Naomi stopped the match to get the heckler kicked out of the arena.
After losing her match against Kudermetova, Osaka would take some time to address the crowd.
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Speaking through tears on court, Osaka said: “I just wanted to say thank you, I feel like I cry enough on camera.
“To be honest, I’ve been heckled before, it doesn’t really bother me, but being heckled here, I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, if you’ve never watched it you should watch it and I don’t know why, but it got into my head and it got replayed a lot.”
Osaka was playing her first tournament since the Australian Open in January where she lost in the third round.
