Women’s tennis player Naomi Osaka tearfully addressed the crowd at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday after a fan heckled her during her match with Veronika Kudermetova.
According to ESPN, it was Osaka who asked to address the crowd after being bounced in the second round in Indian Wells, California.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” Osaka said. “To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, it didn’t really bother me, but it’s heckled here [Indian Wells]. I’ve watch a video of Venus and Serena [Williams] getting heckled here. If you’ve never watched it, you should watch it. And I don’t know why, but it went into my head and it got replayed a lot.”
“I’m trying not to cry. I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations,” Osaka added as she gestured toward Kudermetova.
"I just wanted to say thank you." 😍
– @naomiosaka | @BNPPARIBASOPEN | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/mPpm2Vdzml
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 13, 2022
Osaka was referring to an incident in 2001, when Serena Wiliams was roundly booed throughout her final match at Indian Wells, following the withdrawal of her scheduled opponent, Venus Williams, in the tournament semifinal. According to the Desert Sun, Williams called the incident the ““darkest moment” of her career, and would not play at Indian Wells again until 2015. Venus Williams would not return to the tournament until 2016, and Williams’ father, Richard Williams, said the 2001 crowd directed racial slurs his way.
As reported by the Desert Sun on Saturday, a woman in the crowd yelled out “Naomi, you suck!” early in the first set. Osaka began to tear up, and asked the chair umpire if she could address the crowd following the conclusion of the second game. The umpire, Paula Vieira Souza, declined Osaka’s request.
Osaka would go on to lose 6-0, 6-4 to Kudermetova.
Osaka has been at the center of the mental health conversation surrounding athletes who are consistently in the public eye ever since her withdrawal from the 2021 French Open, citing “long bouts of depression” as the reason.
In August, Osaka gave her first press conference since withdrawing from the French Open, and was asked by Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty how she balances her media obligations, considering her platform. Osaka was able to answer, but began to cry, forcing her to step away for five minutes in order to compose herself.
Osaka later explained why she was so “affected” by the question.
“Honestly, I was thinking about this since the last time I sat here,” Osaka said, per ABC News. “I was wondering why I was so affected, I guess. Like what made me not want to do media in the first place. And then I was thinking, I was wondering if I was scared because sometimes I would see headlines of players losing and then the headline the next day would be like ‘a collapse’ or ‘they’re not that great anymore.’”
“So then I was thinking, me waking up every day, for me, I should feel like I’m winning, you know,” she continued. “Like, the choice to go out there and play, to go see fans, that people come out and watch me play, that itself is an accomplishment. I’m not sure when along the way I started desensitizing that. It started not being an accomplishment for me. So I felt like I was very ungrateful on that fact.”
Osaka spoke about her difficulties through COVID, including the lack of social interaction the pandemic has created.
“I don’t know. I think definitely this whole COVID thing was really stressful with the bubbles and not seeing people and not having the interactions,” Osaka said. “But I think, like, I guess seeing the state of the world, how everything is in Haiti, how everything is in Afghanistan right now, is definitely really crazy.”
“And for me to just be hitting a tennis ball in the United States right now, and have people come and watch me play, is, I don’t know. I would want to be myself in this situation rather than anyone else in the world.”
Osaka is currently the 78th ranked women’s tennis player in the world.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].