Naomi Osaka was brought to tears during her match at the Indian Wells Masters in California on Saturday. A heckler shouted "Naomi, you suck!," at Osaka from the stands during the tennis star's match against Veronika Kudermetova.
The crowd ended up booing the heckler after that comment, but Osaka was visibly upset by it. At one point Osaka asked the umpire if she could use a microphone and address the crowd.
"I just want to say something. I'm not going to curse. I don't curse. It's just weighing on my heart," Osaka told the umpire, according to NBC News.
However, the umpire denied Osaka's request and she was forced to wait until after the match to make her comments.
"I just want to say, 'Thank you,'" Osaka said after the match. "I feel like I've cried enough on camera. I just wanted to say, to be honest, I've been heckled before, like it didn't really bother me."
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
Osaka explained that part of why she was so upset is because she remembered that Serena Williams and Venus Williams had been heckled at Indian Wells early in their careers.
"I watched a video of Venus and Serena [Williams] getting 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 it got replayed a lot. I'm trying not to cry," Osaka said.
Over the last year, Osaka has taken a hiatus from tennis. She even pulled out of the French Open in order to take a mental health break. That came after Osaka refused to participate in post-match press conferences during the Grand Slam tournament.
Additionally, Osaka sat out of Wimbledon last summer before returning to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
