Thanks to a heckler, Naomi Osaka was brought to tears during her match against Veronika Kudermetova at Indian Wells on Saturday.
A woman in the crowd yelled, “Naomi, you suck!” The Japanese tennis player was losing 3-0 in the first set when she asked the chair umpire to use the mic and address the spectators.
“Can I borrow your microphone?” she asked. “I just want to say something. I’m not going to curse. I don’t curse. It’s just weighing on my heart.”
However, the ump denied Osaka’s request. Officials agreed to eject the heckler if it happened again. Unfortunately for the tennis star, she went on to lose the match against Kudermetova. She lost the first set 6-0 and then the second round 6-4.
After the loss, she agreed to be interviewed, where she could finally speak her mind.
“I just wanted to say thank you. I feel like I’ve cried enough on camera,” Osaka said during the interview. “I’ve gotten heckled before. It really didn’t bother me. But heckled here, I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it. I don’t know why, but it went to my head.”
Osaka was referring to the 2001 Indian Wells tournament where Serena Williams was booed after winning. She boycotted the event for 14 years, not returning until 2015.
Weak, and people went after the Cincinnati reporter who asked wasnt dealing with the media part of your job.
You also have outside interests beyond tennis that are served by having the platform that the media presents to you. My question is, how do you think you might be able to best balance the two?You also have outside interests beyond tennis that are served by having the platform that the media presents to you.. this is the question that made her cry in Cincinnati.