News update
  • PM accords reception to winners of international Quran competition     |     
  • 300,000 displaced people in Gaza seek safe shelter: UNDP     |     
  • Climate change made deadly Nepal glacier and rock collapse more likely     |     
  • Building damaged in Israeli strikes collapses in Gaza, killing 21     |     
  • Bangladesh sees 31 risky heat days, 25 for CC, this summer     |     
  1. Home
  2. Tennis
  3. Naomi Osaka brought to tears by heckler at US tournament

Naomi Osaka brought to tears by heckler at US tournament

Greenwatch News Desk Tennis 2022-03-13, 9:54pm




Indian Wells, United States, 13 March - Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka was brought to tears by a heckler Saturday on the way to a 6-0, 6-4 loss to Veronika Kudermetova in the Indian Wells WTA hardcourt tournament.

Japan's Osaka, ranked 78th in the world after her third-round exit at the Australian Open, was rocked early in the first set when someone in the crowd yelled "Naomi, you suck."

She pulled herself together to continue, but while she finally seemed to find her range in the second set she couldn't find a way past Kudermetova.

Speaking on court after the match, Osaka said the comment stuck in her head because it reminded her of Venus and Serena Williams being heckled at the tournament in 2001.