Source: Play Academy / Play Academy
Naomi Osaka was brought to tears by a heckler during the second round of the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells Masters) on Mar. 12.
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who has openly struggled with her mental health in the past, appeared distracted and flustered as she was competing against Russian tennis star, Veronika Kudermetova. In broadcasts from Saturday’s game, a female agitator can be heard yelling “Naomi you suck” from within the crowd. At one point, Osaka approached the umpire demanding for the woman to be removed from the crowd. The 24-year-old athlete even asked for the umpire’s mic to personally address the heckler, but the tennis court official said there was nothing she could do.
Sadly, Osaka lost the match 6-0, 6-4 against Kudermetova, after faltering a number of times on the court. The young tennis champ gave a teary-eyed speech towards the end of the match, noting how Venus and Serena were once booed and heckled during their game at the Indian Wells in 2001.
“I feel like I’ve cried enough on camera,” she began her emotional speech. “To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, and it didn’t really bother me. But, like, heckled here? I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it,” she continued.
“And I don’t know why, but it went into my head, and it got replayed a lot and I’m trying not to cry.”
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Osaka then thanked the crowd and walked off the court, but the star received a standing ovation from supportive crowd goers who appeared to sympathize with her throughout the challenging experience. Andrew Krasny, the on-court interviewer at the BNP Paribas Open, hopped on the mic and tried to console Osaka as she exited:
“Out of about 10,000 people, one person’s voice can’t weigh out 9,999 others. We love you here, ” he said.
The tennis champ hasn’t addressed the controversy publically since Saturday’s match.
As for the case of Venus and Serena, after the terrible crowd reception at the Indian Wells in 2001, the sisters did not participate in the annual competition for years, with Serena finally returning to compete in 2015, and Venus in 2016.
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