Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka cried after a spectator yelled "You suck!" at her at the Indian Wells Masters. Ex-world number one Andy Murray says the Japanese star must ...

- Bitcoin She has dropped to 78th in the WTA world rankings as of Monday. Osaka cried after a spectator in the stands shouted "Naomi, you suck!"

'Part of the game': Tennis stars' hard truth for Osaka after heckling drama.

The sisters boycotted the tournament for years, only returning to Indian Wells in 2015. “I don’t know why, but it went into my head, and it got replayed a lot. “So, I feel for Naomi, that obviously it upset her a lot, but it’s always been something that’s been part of sport as well. “I understand that probably Naomi, suffered a lot with these, probably kind of issues that she has, mental (health) issues. “The easy answer for me is I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen,” Nadal said. “If you go and watch a basketball match, for example, and a player’s taking free throws, I would say like almost every basketball match I’ve been to one of the players has been heckled by the crowd as well.

The four-time grand slam champion was reduced to tears by a heckler at Indian Wells. But abuse from the stands appears to be on the increase.

Osaka has been struggling to deal with the demands of being in the spotlight and she’s had a very rough 12 months. One of the greatest athletes on the planet, who no doubt has accomplished more and worked harder for such than the woman who felt it was OK to yell such a thing. In soccer, England players were racially abused by their own ‘supporters’ after their loss at last year’s European Championship; the NBA has banned fans for confronting players at games; and NFL players were booed during a moment of silence to acknowledge inequality. And, indeed, the sisters had already faced off on a bigger stage when Venus defeated Serena in the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2000, just eight months prior. And while Richard Williams left himself open for criticism with his highly unconventional – and extraordinarily successful – coaching techniques, the thought that the sisters would conspire and rob the event of fair competition was a stretch. Naomi Osaka’s emotional, tear-filled comments after she was heckled during her second-round loss in Indian Wells on Saturday immediately drew comparisons to the infamous incident at the same tournament in 2001 when the Williams sisters were mercilessly – and unjustly - booed.

After being heckled by a fan at Indian Wells, it seems fair and reasonable to ask whether the women's tennis star could use more time away to find answers ...

At best, it’s a sign people are invested in the product. There was nothing out of the ordinary about a top-tier athlete getting thrown off her game by a lone heckler. By Osaka’s own admissions over the past year, conflict and confrontation can cause her anxiety. The news is we’ve produced a culture that celebrates weakness and victimhood.” On the other baseline: Anything other than full-throated and unconditional support for Osaka was found lacking in empathy and sympathy. On Saturday, she was playing her second match at Indian Wells, against Russian Veronika Kudermetova. Early in the match, a fan yelled, “You suck.” (That she implied it was motivated by racial animus made it all the more fraught.) She has hauled in more than $100 million in endorsements and lit the torch at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And still, she is unsettled by conflict and confrontation and partisan fans. She then referenced a previous moment of heckling at Indian Wells. It was not her match from 2018. But he brought with him the same sensibilities he would to a Rams or Dodgers or Lakers game and began to yap at the opponent. Vickery—a young American inspired by the Williams sisters and who came to tennis not via country clubs but when her grandmother bought her a racket at a Dollar Store—brought a considerable fan section to this big match. And the tournament. It takes place in Indian Wells, Calif., at the BNP Paribas Open. Naomi Osaka was on one side of the net.

Tennis star, Naomi Osaka, was rattled during her match at BNP Paribas Open on Saturday night after a woman in the stands yelled “Naomi, you suck!”.

“We put intense amounts of pressure and scrutiny on athletes to perform. Spectators reacted to the derogatory remark and Osaka asked the chair umpire to ask that something be done. The undercurrent of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. How can we as people from the outside help? When Venus and their father Richard took their seats to watch Serena in the final against Kim Clijsters, the crowd began booing. The Williams sisters were heckled by fans at Indian Wells in 2001.

Osaka wanted to address the crowd shortly after the heckler yelled at her, but was denied by the umpire.

That came after Osaka refused to participate in post-match press conferences during the Grand Slam tournament. "I just want to say, 'Thank you,'" Osaka said after the match. She even pulled out of the French Open in order to take a mental health break.