To describe the past year for Naomi Osaka as an emotional roller coaster would be putting it lightly. In 2021, the international tennis star pulled herself out of the French Open, citing the need to focus on her mental health. Shortly thereafter, 24-year-old received a whirlwind of criticism from several notable members of the media who thought it was hypocritical of her to grace the cover of the swimsuit edition for Sports Illustrated in wake of her claims that she had been suffering from mental health issues. At one point the criticism got so out of hand, that Osaka's boyfriend Cordae stepped in to defend his girlfriend during an interview with The Breakfast Club last month.
Needless to say, Naomi Osaki's mental state of mind is very fragile right now, so when a female audience member heckled her at the Indian Wells Masters tournament this past weekend, it took a toll on her -- so much so that it may have contributed to her (6-0, 6-4) loss to Veronika Kudermetovato. The four-time Grand Slam winner was visibly shaken up after the heckler yelled out such insults as, "Naomi you suck!"
After the match, a tearful Osaka approached the umpire asking for the heckler to be removed, but her request was denied. In response, Osaka asked for the umpire's microphone so that she could address the crowd about the incident but that request was also denied. Therefore, Osaka talked about the heckler in a post-match interview on the court, saying that the remarks from her heckler reminded her of the racially charged slurs that were used against Serena and Venus Williams during their heyday at the very same event back in 2001.
“To be honest, I’ve been heckled before,” Osaka said. “It didn’t really bother me. But 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.”
Scroll up to watch Naomi Osaka's tearful post-match interview about her heckler.
Source: Black Enterprise
