Naomi Osaka, breakdown in tears, Here is the reason why

By Rishita Sharma Published on March 13, 2022, 23:59 IST

Naomi Osaka lost her tennis match Saturday, but that wasn’t the worst part of her day, a heckler set off a chain of events that reduced the tennis star to tears.

Naomi was playing Veronika Kudermetova at the Indian Wells Tourney outside Palm Springs, when a woman in the stands screamed, “Naomi, you suck!” The fans started screaming at the woman and rocked Naomi.

Naomi Osaka asked for the microphone after her loss against Veronika Kudermetova. Here's what she said. pic.twitter.com/0Pj9WnNe4t

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 13, 2022

She was losing 3-0 in the first set when she begged the ump to let her take the mic and talk to the audience promising, “I just want to say something. I’m not going to cruse. I don’t cure. It’s just weighing on my heart.” Officials would not oblige but vowed to boot the heckler if she dared tried it again. It was too late for Naomi. She lost the first set 6-0 and the second 6-4.

After losing, Naomi asked again, and this time she got the mic, telling the crowd, “To be honest, I have been heckled before. It didn’t really bother me. But heckled here, like, I have watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you are never watched it, you should watch it. I don’t know why, but it went into my head and got replayed a lot.”