Naomi Osaka left in tears by hecklers at Indian Wells
Former world number one Naomi Osaka left the courtside in tears after her defeat to Veronika Kudermetova in the Indian Wells second round. She lost 6-0, 6-4 to the 24-year-old Russian.
She was taunted in the first set by someone in the crowd who yelled “Naomi, you suck”.
The Japanese star said after the match that it reminded her of the same incident that happened to the William sisters in 2001 which resulted in the duo boycotting the tournament for 14 years.
She said, “I’ve been heckled before and it didn’t really bother me. But being heckled here, I’ve watched video of Venus and Serena get heckled here and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it. And I don’t know why, but it went into my head and got replayed a lot.”
Her defeat in the second round was her earliest since she returned after taking a long break from the sport. She took a break after her third-round defeat in her US title defence last year.
