Naomi Osaka Cries After Being Heckled During Tennis Match [VIDEO]

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka Cries After Being Heckled During Tennis Match [VIDEO]

Four-time Grand Slam champ Naomi Osaka was brought to tears by a heckler in the crowd at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California on Saturday (March 12). Following the first game of the match to Veronika Kudermetova, a spectator from the crowd heckled Naomi Osaka from the stands, bringing her to tears on the court during her second-round loss.

Naomi Osaka

After falling short in the opening game against Veronika Kudermetova, a woman in the crowd shouted,

“Naomi, you suck.”

Naomi Osaka was then brought to tears on the court from the comment. During a break, the champion asked the chair umpire if the fan could be removed and if she could use the umpire’s microphone to address the crowd. The umpire rejected her request to use the microphone and it is unclear if the heckler was found and kicked out of the venue.

“I didn’t hear what lady say because I really so focus on my game, on my serve game, I didn’t understand what she say,” Veronika Kudermetova said. “But after that moment, I saw that Naomi, she start to cry.” 

Osaka resulted in the loss of straight sets 6-0 6-4. After the match, Osaka was able to address the crowd, still fighting back the tears after the defeat.

“To be honest, I’ve been heckled before,” Osaka said. “It didn’t really bother me.

“But, like, heckled here, like I’ve watched a video of Venus and Serena (Williams) get heckled here and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it. I don’t know why, but it went into my head and got replayed a lot.” 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by the Jasmine BRAND (@thejasminebrand)